


Again? Again?

by mothboys



Category: Heathers (1988), Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe
Genre: (nothing is like gonna be a hardcore pwp or w/e but like there's sex my dudes), Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Character Death, F/F, Heather Chandler is a Lesbian, Sex, Veronica Sawyer is Bi, cw: homophobic slurs, cw: rape mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-09-06 08:55:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16829272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothboys/pseuds/mothboys
Summary: Veronica wakes up. Last time she checked everyone is dead, the school almost blew up while JD blew to pieces, and she's a week from graduating. She looks at her clock and recognizes that something is off. The clock reads 'September 1, 1989" - she panics and finds that everything isn't exactly as it should be.





	1. Back to the Future

**Author's Note:**

> Howdy, all!
> 
> I'm buffysunnmers on tumblr and just wanted to leave a quick note
> 
> I'll be upd8ing this as much as possible - there may also be breaks within my ability to write/motivation so be easy!
> 
> An easy peasy groundhog day AU <3

Veronica tossed and turned in her bed, a nightmare taking over. Visions of Heather, blue liquid pouring out of her mouth, two gunshots – Ram and Kurt’s dead eyes looking up at her from the forest floor, another gunshot and JD laying near-lifeless at her feet, and finally JD holding the bomb and –

 _BEEP_  
BEEP  
BEEP

Veronica woke with a start, the radio in her alarm clock signaling that it was time to drag herself out of bed for school. _Great school_. The teen rolled onto her side and her eyes widened before quickly furrowing. “What the fuck…?”, She mumbled under her breath, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. The clock read ‘September 1st, 1989’. Adjusting her gaze, blinking fairly hard a few more times just to ensure her vision wasn’t failing her she finally let out a laugh – she couldn’t believe this. Veronica had already lived through this, the first day of her senior year, killing her best friend, watching JD murder two ultimately harmless teenage boys, and then saving the entire school.

Sighing, she got ready for school, maybe, just maybe, her alarm clock lost time. Maybe everything was normal. Climbing onto the bus, it was clear that it wasn’t just her clock that was set back to the beginning of the year; the bus was abuzz with everyone discussing their excitement or distaste for their return to school while nervous freshman eyed each other suspiciously. Veronica was, needless to say, slightly wigged; It hadn’t been just a dream, it _couldn’t_ have been, it had been almost the full school year, and she sincerely doubted she had the capability to dream that up. Trying to push off her initial fear, the heroine pulled herself out of the bus and into the Thunderdome itself, Westerburg High School.

 _‘If this is the first day, I know where I have to go’_ Veronica thought, pulling her diary out of her jacket. She marched herself to the bathroom loitering in the corner, chewing on her pen, and waiting for the Heathers to make their appearance. As if on cue, two minutes to the bell, the Heathers paraded in. Chandler breezed past Veronica going straight to the mirror to adjust her appearance while McNamara and Duke followed in tow. Duke quickly entered a stall, beginning her _lovely_ morning ritual of purging while Mac stood next to Heather, adjusting her yellow scrunchie. Veronica bit her lip and began to prewrite a hall pass for the collective as Duke let out a gag. Chandler scoffed not breaking eye contact with her reflection, “Grow up Heather, bulimia’s so ‘87”. The smaller yellow Heather spoke up, a tinge of nervousness in her tone “Heather’s right, maybe you should see a doctor, Heather” Duke rolled her eyes from within the stall, “Yeah, Heather, maybe I should.”

Ms. Fleming stomped confidently into the bathroom, interrupting, “Ah, Heather and Heather,” Duke let out another gag. “And Heather - perhaps you didn’t hear the bell over all the vomiting, you’re late for class” Chandler straightened up, putting herself in front of Mac, purposefully shielding the smaller Heather from the teacher, “Heather wasn’t feeling well – we’re helping her.” The Red one stated in a Matter-of-Fact tone, one eyebrow quirked up. Ms. Fleming’s mouth curled into a smile, her tone matching Heather’s venom and fired back, “Not without a hall pass you’re not – week’s detention.”

Veronica sprang into action, ripping the faux hall pass from her diary she handed it over to the irate teacher, “Actually, Ms. Fleming all four of us are out on a hall pass - yearbook committee.” Fleming carefully studied the note before deeming it valid and telling the teens to get on their way. The three Heathers quickly sized Veronica up, who was, naturally, having a disgusting sense of déjà vu. After poking and prodding and a bit of pleading, Veronica found herself one of the Heathers.

Three weeks went by, Veronica silently freaking out, trying to discover when the Heathers were going to ask her to forge the note to Martha. Finally, the time came and Veronica wrote the letter, with the same amount of trepidation she experienced the first time, still not wanting to hurt her oldest friend. Ultimately pleased they had Martha Dumptruck coming to Ram’s party, the Heathers began to exit to their next class period, Mac, however, slowed significantly. Veronica stiffened – this hadn’t happened last time - Slowly she walked up toward the yellow Heather and spoke, “Hey, is – is everything okay?”

Veronica studied McNamara carefully, she knew last time everything hadn’t been okay, they were practically best friends last time she remembered, Mac even joined movie nights with her and Martha…that was in the past – er, future though. She had to gain her trust first. Clearing her throat she spoke again, gently putting a hand on Mac’s shoulder, “Really, you can trust me, promise”. The small blonde’s brow was in a soft furrow of worry – she opened her mouth once or twice, attempting to choose her words carefully, before finally deciding on the phrasing, “I think something’s up with Heather, I’m really worried about her.”

Veronica blinked. She had nearly forgotten the Heathers’ collective habit of referring to each other as ‘Heather’ without any more clarification about which Heather they were referring to. “Oh – what about her? I – you mean Chandler, right?” Veronica blurted out, figuring she had at least a fifty-fifty shot of getting the right one. Mac let out a small sigh and shrugged a tiny bit, “She just seems down y’know?” The smaller girl ran her lips between her teeth and continued, “Like she…like she’s distracted I guess – she seems like she has a lot on her mind and I know she’ll talk to you so maybe you could talk to her?” Veronica took it in – this was a deviation from the first time – nothing large, but large enough to incite a small feeling of panic within the brunette. “Oh, yeah, I guess I –“ she sighed, a light bulb going off in her head, “If you want, you guys could come over to my house for before the party – my parents are a little dorky but I could see what’s up then?” Mac lit up nodding heavily in agreement, “I think that’s the best idea - wind down time should help”.

Veronica gave another simple nod and a small wave, sending Mac on her way. Turning around she found herself face-to-face with JD. Instantly tensing she clenched her jaw before swallowing hard, skin crawling. “You shouldn’t have bowed down to the Swatch-dogs and Diet-Cokeheads,” JD began walking closer to Veronica, “They’re gonna crush that girl.” He finished, planting his feet a foot away from her. Veronica bit her lip and spoke, “They’re not that bad – I mean –“ she sighed and JD continued, “You’ve clearly got a soul – you just need to work harder at keeping it clean,” He gave a smile – something that was defined between the realm of ‘grin’ and ‘smirk’.

Veronica swallowed again, her throat clenching harder, “I - I have to go.”

_Dear Diary,  
Heather Mac trusts me to tame Chandler herself – if I ‘m not back in three hours, call for help. I better help her before JD helps her too much._


	2. Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chandler is acting weird, Veronica is confused, and another narrow escape from JD, himself.

Veronica sat down at the lunch table, distress taking over. She had narrowly avoided JD and knew she needed to come up with an action plan to stop him from doing anything. Sighing, she pulled herself from her thoughts and looked up, carefully surveying Heather. The alpha herself exuded her usual cocky demeanor however, Veronica noted, there was an unusual softness sitting behind her eyes. Veronica studied her face, watching her command the other two to go off to do their daily the lunchtime poll. Unfortunately for Veronica, the red Heather glanced her way, “What _is_ your childhood trauma?” Chandler asked, almost amused. Stumbling over her words, Veronica began to defend herself, “Uh, nothing, sorry zoning out” Chandler raised a brow cautious to believe the other girl’s thinly veiled lie.

“Anyway, as I was saying, are you doing anything this afternoon?” The red one asked, glancing at her manicure. Veronica bit her lip truly shell-shocked that Heather had let that drop so easily. That just wasn’t her nature and – wait, wait, wait – had she just asked Veronica to hang out? She blinked and spoke, “Just, uh, homework – the usual.” Chandler grinned bringing her attention back up to the brunette and stated, “You’re coming to my house.”

“Sorry, what?” Veronica said squinting, unsure if she had been having an aneurysm or heard Heather correctly. Huffing, Heather spoke, “God Veronica, you’re such a pillowcase – you’re coming to my house after school.” Veronica mutely nodded and gave the other girl a quick smile attempting to be agreeable. “Good – meet me at my car after seventh period.”

The next four periods went by with some trepidation. Math – she didn’t have Chandler, Journalism – only Duke to deal with, however, for study hall and English classes she found herself trapped with the Demon Queen herself, who, for whatever reason kept stealing glances at Veronica. The final bell of the day rang out and Veronica breathed a sigh of relief. The duo walked in silence to the car; Heather leading and Veronica, well, following.

The ride to Heather’s house was rather uneventful, the lazy drawl of the radio making it if anything, peaceful. The Chandler’s mansion, much like Heather Chandler herself, was impressive. The house itself stood a proud three floors with two wings, never ceasing to surprise Veronica. She had been there only once before but was often driven past the house on her way to school.

“Veronica.”

“Veronica.”

Pulling herself out of yet another haze Veronica mumbled an apology and unbuckled her seatbelt. Chandler rolled her eyes and got out of her car signaling for the other girl to follow closely behind. “Mother and father are home, but if you keep quiet and move fast, they shouldn’t want to talk to you,” Heather explained powerwalking toward her house. “Not that they’re too interested in who my friends are anyway” She finished, the bite of bitterness in her tone making the hair on Veronica’s arm stand on end.

Once securely in her room, Heather shut the door behind them and spoke, “You intrigue me, Sawyer” Mac had been right, Heather _was_ acting weird and that only heightened Veronica’s current anxious state. Veronica let out an anxious laugh and replied, “Why?” while easing her backpack unto the ground. Like the predator she was, Heather circled her studying her appearance before coming to rest in front of Veronica. “You’re different,” Chandler began sucking a breath in between her teeth, “You aren’t a desperate little dweeb looking to knock me down.” Daringly, Veronica brought her eyes to Heathers and time seemed to elongate. The swatch on Chandler’s wrist now somehow deafening;

_Tick_

_Tick_

_Tick_

Finally, rolling her eyes, Chandler broke eye contact, moving from her spot in front of Veronica and lounging onto her bed. The time-traveler attempting to jog her thoughts, in the past – the future – the – the whatever, Heather had made no indication as to even enjoy Veronica’s presence, let alone invite her to her house and…compliment her. “I’m not sure I get it, Heather” Veronica spoke, spinning around to face her. Resting her hand into her chin Heather spoke, “You’re not just a wannabe, you idiot.”

“You think like me and that makes me…like you.” Chandler stated picking at her nails. She glanced up at Veronica, a bemused look on her face and continued, “You can sit down.” Veronica quickly found herself sitting next to Heather, her heart thumping out of her chest. “Um, do – do you want to – before the party do you want to come to my house? I just thought that maybe hanging out…would be…nice” Veronica mumbled out, “Since I’m catching a ride with you anyway.”

Heather slid closer, pulling herself up out of her bed, “Just right after school?” Veronica shrugged and nodded, “If you want to.” Another long moment of silence took over, Veronica now hearing her heart beating over the sound of Heather’s swatch. Chandler looked her blue comrade down, eyes scanning every inch of her before landing back onto Veronica’s eyes. Veronica opened her mouth to speak again before she was interrupted, “It’s a date.” Heather said flatly, a small smile quirked up on her face.

* * *

The next two days of school came and went, very little truly occurring – a quiz, running the mile in gym, calc homework, the usual. After class Veronica found herself being grabbed and dragged to the parking lot by Heather Chandler. “Hello to you too.” Veronica laughed out, trying to diffuse the storming Heather. 

“Shut up.” Heather spat, getting into her car and starting it. Veronica followed, climbing into the passenger seat and ignoring Heather’s request, “Who pissed you off?” A death grip on the steering wheel Chandler turned to look at Veronica, “Are you really that dense?”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me, Sawyer. How are you _so_ dense?”

Veronica was stunned and let out a breath, “What did I do to you?” Chandler rolled her eyes and drove, “Drop it.” Veronica shifted uncomfortably in her seat, taking that as the threat it was and went mute. Once they reached Veronica’s house they found the two other Heathers patiently waiting leaned against the back of Duke’s Jeep. Quickly, Veronica rose from Heather’s car, desperate to take a break from Chandler, and approached the girls and greeted, “Hi guys! Sorry, it took us a minute to get here.”

Duke shrugged crossing her arms, “It was five minutes, no big.” McNamara nodded along in agreement, following Veronica as she walked up to her house. Veronica attempted to make the group busy, offering up croquet as a time killer. All the while she stole glances in the direction of Heather Chandler, who, of course, happened to notice every time and would hold her gaze for just a second too long.

Again, Veronica thought she knew what was coming. “Veronica, you really just don’t notice the world happening around you,” Chandler spoke, garnering a shared look of confusion from both Mac and Duke. Veronica kept silent, not wanting to engage and provide more fuel for Chandler to throw back at her. This was another deviation – what had she done that had been different? However, the rest of what happened was like reading a football play; Heather hit her croquet ball and it fired off toward Veronica’s mother, who then brought over her liverwurst creation. Chandler dropped the croquet ball and called for Veronica to follow her to her car. What stuck with her the most was Heather talking about, ‘dense’. What did that even mean?

Veronica and Heather sat in her car outside the 7-Eleven and the former paled. _JD._ The last thing she had wanted to do was deal with JD and deflecting him – she just wanted to get to the party – she just wanted to make sure Martha didn’t get hurt. She just…

“Sawyer, have you really gone brain-dead?”

“Sorry.” Veronica barked out while stumbling out of the car, “I’ll be right back – BQ, right?” Heather bit her tongue and replied, “Just hurry up.” Veronica took a deep breath and entered the store, immediately snapping her attention to the Slurpee machine – and there he was, in all his trench-coat cladded glory, JD.

His face lit up as Veronica attempted to breeze past him, “Greetings and salutations – you want a Slurpee with that?” JD moved closer to Veronica as she picked up a pack of Corn Nuts and headed to the register. “I’ve never really been a big fan of Slurpees,” Veronica stated avoiding eye contact. “I’m more of a Big Gulp kind of a gal.” JD leaned against the counter as the disgruntled 7-Eleven employee took her money, “Slurpee’s the signature dish of the house. Did you say cherry or lime?”

Veronica took her change and spoke, “I said Big Gulp, JD.” The boy paused for a moment an amused smile on his face, getting up off the counter and sticking his free hand in his pocket as he sipped his Slurpee, “How’d you know my name?” Veronica’s eyes went wide for a moment before rushing out of the store; “I…know a lot of things – I – I have to go.” JD followed to the doorway and called after her, “At least tell me your name.”

“It’s Veronica.”

“Who _is_ that kid?” Heather asked gesturing with her head as Veronica scrambled into her car. “JD – the kid who beat up Kurt and Ram in the caf the other day,” Veronica spoke chewing on her bottom lip as Chandler pulled back onto the road. “Well, _whoever_ weird trench coat kid is, he definitely seems like he wants to get to know you,” Heather muttered, a biting tone in her voice. Veronica craned her neck to see JD still loitering in the doorway of the 7-Eleven as they pulled away.

Veronica’s face fell a little and she shook her head, “Don’t worry, I _so_ don’t want to get to know him – he gives me the creeps.” Something in Heather’s face softened and a small almost-smile played across her lips, “Is that so?” Veronica shrugged, taking a quick note of the fact this might be the first real smile on Heather’s face and said, “He looks like he’s the school shooter type, color me totally disinterested.”

Heather’s face curled up into a slightly bigger smile and they pulled up to the party, Heather finding a place to park at and sighing before turning off the car. She stared ahead toward the party, almost in a daze, her lips pursed, releasing a deep sigh as if mentally preparing herself to even attend the party. Veronica kept a close watch on the other girl and spoke carefully, “Hey, um, Heather?” Broken out of her trance, Heather turned her head toward Veronica, her face still holding the same softness it had a moment ago, “What?” The car went silent; the only sound around them was the muffled thud of the music from inside the house. The pair held eye contact for a long moment, the air around them growing slightly heavy. Veronica gulped in a breath and continued placing a hand over one of Heather’s, “Is – is everything okay? You’ve just been – I don’t know – acting a little different.”

Heather’s eyes flickered down to look at Veronica’s hand on her own and she gave a weak smile, trailing her eyes back up to meet the other girl’s, “I’m fine.” Veronica let out a small nervous chuckle and continued, “I mean, I don’t know what I’m missing, what I’m not picking up on – like the whole dense thing? I know I’m not the best at reading people sometimes, but you’re gonna have to help me out here Heather.” Heather chewed on her lip, mulling over how to answer Veronica and finally sat up straight, reluctantly taking her hand out from under the other girl’s and stated, “I’ll tell you after the party, okay?”

“Deal,” Veronica said, deciding that just dropping it would make it easier to get Heather to tell her later. Heather got out of the car, sighed, grabbing Veronica by the hand. Veronica was surprised at the non-aggressive touch as Heather laced their fingers together and walked toward the party. Veronica definitely couldn’t complain, hell she even found it nice. The moment they stepped in the door, however, Chandler dropped her hand and spoke, “Get me a drink, I’ll go find Heather and Heather.”

Veronica nodded and asked, remembering what Heather had drunk with utmost clarity, “Vodka tonic?” Heather gave a quick half-smile before dropping it to her resting-bitch-face, “Maybe you do pay attention, Sawyer.” 

Veronica was almost thankful for the time traveling she had done. It had been lots of little things; acing every test she had taken, being able to recall everything had to say in social situations, and in this instance, remembering where Kurt’s kitchen was _and_ where his dad had the good alcohol stashed. Hurriedly, she dropped the Corn Nuts in a pile with all the other snacks and got to work making Heather’s drink. Okay, maybe it was a little stronger than she meant to make it, but whatever. Two shots wouldn’t kill Heather and well – it wasn’t Drano, so she felt confident about handing it to her. Grabbing some of the spiked punch she moved out into the living room.

The party was in prime form, girls and boys grinding on each other, some teens already drunkenly passed out. After taking in the room, she scanned it for the Heathers and found Mac who was excitedly waving in her direction. Veronica pushed her way through the crowd of teens and found herself on the outskirts and handed the drink to Heather, “Here you go.” Chandler gave a quick smile and downed the whole solo cup and then spoke to the group, grabbing Veronica’s arm, “Alright, let’s dance." 

Veronica quickly followed and chugged the punch, abandoning her cup and following Heather in the steadily moving throng of teenagers. Mac followed, immediately finding her way to a none-too-sober Kurt, while Duke chose instead to stand back, drink, and talk to Ram. Heather was, very clearly, dancing with Veronica as opposed to dancing just next to her. Her hands were raised above her head, getting absolutely lost in the rhythm, her hair bouncing around a beat or two behind Chandler’s actual movements. 

Veronica did her best to match Heather’s movements and keep up with the beat, Veronica had never really been to a party before; or really danced, for that matter. Heather had a carefree smile, stealing glances at Veronica before grabbing her hand, while still dancing, laughed, “Jesus, Sawyer, let loose!” A grin spread across Veronica’s face, okay maybe this was going to be more fun than she thought. “I just can’t dance,” Veronica shouted over the much-too-loud music. The song then, as if on cue, changed to a slower one. Veronica froze and let out a laugh, “Maybe that’s a sign – I mean we can go get more drinks?” 

Heather, who had let hurt slide across her face for a second nodded in agreement, “Look at you, Veronica, wouldn’t have taken you for a heavy drinker.” Veronica rolled her eyes as she and Heather walked back toward the kitchen, “This is like, the first time I’ve had anything more than wine at my grandpa’s house.” Heather lounged against the counter and sighed, “Let’s do a shot – I’m not feeling a thing.” Veronica laughed a little, she was definitely already tipsy but found herself reaching for two shot glasses and a bottle of drug-store brand Whiskey. “You sure can hold your alcohol, huh?” 

Chandler let out a small laugh and made an astute observation, “And you can’t, clearly.” Heather then poured the shots and held her glass up to Veronica’s for a small toast and tipped the glass back. Veronica followed the other girl’s lead, scrunching her face up, as she tasted the liquor. This shot was followed by another, and then another, and _another_ until the two girls found themselves stumbling back into the party – Veronica absolutely shitfaced and Chandler a few drinks away from losing control.

They sat down on the couch in the den, well, more like _fell_ down onto the couch. Veronica let out a small laugh, trying to contain the case of ‘the giggles’ that threatened to escape. “Such a lightweight, Sawyer.” Heather declared, sloshing her words ever so slightly. Heather’s hand laced itself with Veronica’s yet again, feeling a little more brazen in her ability to give physical affection.

Chandler, then as if she had been stung, stood up slightly wobbly, but able to drag the incredibly inebriated Veronica with her. “Idea – follow me,” Heather said pulling Veronica behind her on the way to the backyard. Two girls moved out into the grass, Heather making a beeline for a bench off to the side of the pool.

A few other groups of teens were sitting outside, mostly splashing in the pool or cheering around the beer pong table they had set up outside. Veronica sat next to Heather and spoke, her voice slurring slightly, “So what’s this plan?” Chandler was systematically scanning the outside, her teeth catching her tongue as she thought. A careful hum escaped her lips as she spoke, “I said I would talk to you after the party, but I just think I should now.” Veronica blinked a few times, attempting to sober up, she swallowed and steadied her tone, “Um, yeah sure whassup – what’s up?”

“You understand that I…find you interesting,” Heather spoke, looking hard into Veronica’s eyes. Veronica sighed and rubbed her eyes, still trying to get herself sober, “I mean, you’ve said it before. I’m ‘different’ or interesting or whatever.” Heather furrowed her brow in frustration, trying to will her mouth to form the absolutely correct sentence. She moved her hands to rub at her temples, unsure of how to continue. A sigh escaped and she returned her gaze to Veronica’s eyes, a softer, more vulnerable, and absolutely terrified look on her face, “I _like_ you, Sawyer.”

Veronica raised an eyebrow and replied, “Thank you…? I mean we’re friends I’d hope so” Heather scoffed and laughed a little, “ _God,_ Veronica, could you read between the lines for once?” Silence fell between the two – Veronica not understanding the weight of the situation, while Chandler very carefully turned to face the blue girl. Heather knew no one would notice - they were far to drunk to remember if they did see what she was about to do. Before Veronica could speak another ill-informed word, Chandler placed her hands on the girl’s cheeks and pulled her toward her, planting a kiss on her lips. 

Veronica, naturally, leaned into the moment her hands coming to rest on Heather’s hips. Chandler took a moment to separate and building her walls back up, “I said, I like you. Tell anyone about this and you're as good as dead.” Veronica stunned simply nodded as the Red Heather got up and talked off inside, back to the party.

_Dear Diary,_

_Heather Fucking Chandler kissed me????_

_What the actual fuck?_


	3. Veronica Sawyer vs. The World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JD confronts Veronica. Veronica confronts Heather. Heather confronts JD.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey tw I guess? 
> 
> I use dyke in a derogatory sense a whole bunch in this so like if that bugs you just a sweet lil heads up.

Heather had left Veronica in the dust – she didn’t even have a moment to process that she had kissed her before she was gone. Veronica moved a hand up to her lips, still feeling the underlying softness she had experienced less than a moment ago. She muffled a small laugh at the thought of anything about Heather being ‘soft’ but quickly shook her head. She had to _find_ Heather before she could think too hard about what happened. Springing into action, she propelled herself back into the party, running nearly headfirst into Duke, “Oh – sorry – Heather! Have you seen Heather?”

Duke, about to down her tenth Jell-O shot of the night threw it back and took a moment before answering Veronica, “She went to her car. She seemed pretty pissed. What’d you do?” Veronica blanched a little, entirely unwilling to answer Duke’s simple request and instead spoke, “Why is it that I’ve always ‘done something’? What if I didn’t do anything, huh?” Duke scoffed, rolled her eyes and held out a hand to Veronica, “Whatever, _so_ not my problem.” Veronica shot daggers toward her and began to weave through the crowd, trying to make her way to the front of the house to catch Heather in time before she peeled out.

Veronica definitely didn’t _hate_ kissing Heather Chandler. She wasn’t altogether sure how she felt about the most popular – and vicious – girl in high school ‘liking’ her. Her stomach was in knots and her tunnel vision increased as she finally reached the front door, beelining for where they had parked. Gone. _Great._ Frantically she searched the block, only to find there was no sign of Chandler.

_“Shit.”_ Veronica sighed, running both of her hands through her hair. She wasn’t close enough to sober to deal with anything remotely serious. This was a party – weren’t those supposed to be fun? Not ending up standing like a jackass in the middle of the road in one of the richest neighborhoods in Sherwood, Ohio?

As if the night couldn’t possibly get worse a voice sounded from down the street, “You really scared her off, huh?” Veronica tensed, swiveling toward the source of the sound. She found herself face-to-face with JD and couldn’t help but back up. “Hasn’t anyone told you it’s not polite to stalk people?” Veronica laughed out, her voice verging on incredulous.

JD’s face carried a half-hearted smile and he replied, “I wouldn’t call it stalking, I’d call it just a close observation.” He laughed and moved closer to Veronica, who, naturally, pulled backward. “Y’know, I never really took Heather Chandler for a dyke.” He spoke again a grin creeping up on his face. At this, Veronica’s eyes went wide, her mouth fumbling for answers, “She – she’s just drunk. People just kind of lose it when they get too trashed. That’s all.”

JD clicked his tongue in response, “So defensive, Veronica.” Veronica crossed her arms, more angry now than scared, “I mean you can’t just go around saying shit like that about people.” JD raised a brow, a smile playing on his lips, “What? Dyke?” She was incensed by his ability to wriggle under her skin, which, really, was a classic JD move. Letting out an aggravated sigh she spoke, “How about you just back off, JD. Mind your own business.” He scoffed; mirroring the crossed arms Veronica presented him with. “Oh, don’t act like you’re all into her – I mean I know you can give a pretty good ‘teacher’s pet’ act, but this?” He gestured vaguely around them, “Pretending that didn’t happen is a whole different animal. If anyone found out, you’d be in some trouble – plus I don’t think eating some stuck-up bitch out is your ticket to popularity, darling.”

Veronica’s face turned beet red and her eyes narrowed, “Does it really matter – I – I just – I need to get to Heather’s and I don’t need _you_ in my way.” She breezed past the one-man trench-coat-mafia making a few drunken strides down the road and -

“It’d be a real shame if all of Westerburg High found out.”

The sentence sent a sucker punch straight to Veronica’s gut. Slowly, she turned around, the anxiety now blooming from her stomach and catching itself in the back of her throat. She threw her arms up in defeat, letting them limply fall to her sides and spoke, “What the hell do you want, JD?”

She suddenly felt like she was the same war-torn Veronica she had been seemingly another lifetime ago. JD was unstable and she was the only thing between him and a proverbial murder spree. Holding her head as high as she possibly could, she challenged his gaze. “Let me get to know you – you’re always in such a rush with the Barbie wannabes – I think a date would be a great start,” JD stated flatly.

Veronica chewed on her lip. This just felt like a trap. Breathing sharply out of her nose she clenched her fists at her side and spoke, “What if I don’t want to get to know you? What if I already know you.” The words continued to pour out of her mouth, “What if I don’t want to spend time around some kid with a hard-on for Slurpees and guns and has major mommy issues?”

A hush fell over the conversation, JD’s playful demeanor dropping his face twisting into a look of hurt. Veronica took the pause to swallow trying to keep her anxieties at bay, “A-and I definitely am not like wooed by someone who threatens me and my friends before they even know my last name.” Veronica knew she was playing a dangerous game and ran a hand through her hair, ultimately just _frustrated_ with the entire situation. “Now, if you just want to like back off – get some therapy or _whatever,_ I need to go check on Heather to make sure she’s okay.”

“Goodbye, JD.”

With that, Veronica returned to her mission at hand. Maybe she hadn’t handled that in the most graceful manner, but she needed to figure out what was going on in this…timeline? She shook her head – timeline was the only word she could settle on. Kurt’s house wasn’t far from Heather’s, however, sprinting the entire way definitely made Veronica out of breath. She paused in front of the Chandler’s, hands on her knees, wheezing for a few moments, and trying to decide her next course of action. Her eyes scanned the house and finally landed on the trellis next to what she _hoped_ was a hallway. She sighed and made her way over to it and began to climb. “Veronica, sweetie, how was the party?” She mumbled to herself in a semi-mocking tone, “Great, mom, Heather kissed me and I got super drunk, and then I ran like half a mile to her house to talk to her because, surprise, I think I might be gay! And then JD is probably going to out us to the entire school because I don’t want to date his psycho ass!”

The final word of the sentence punctuated itself as she pulled herself up to the window and opened it only to find herself falling forward and barreling into…Heather’s room. A semi-shocked Heather Chandler sat on her bed, clutching a glass of wine and wrapped up in her robe. Sheepishly Veronica looked up from the place she had landed to Chandler. “Uh, hi!” She said taking a quick inventory of Heather’s apprehensive expression. “Hello,” Heather replied, taking a deep swig of her wine and placing it on her nightstand, “I must say, it’s nice of you to…drop on in.” A small nervous smile placed itself on Heather’s face.

“Was – wait was that a joke?” Veronica asked squinting a little, a tiny laugh escaping. “An attempt.” Heather quipped, shifting uncomfortably on her bed. She folded her hands over her lap, straightened her spine, and crossed her ankles, attempting to give an air of confidence, “Why are you here?”

“I wanted to see you.”

“Okay, yes, but _why?_ ”

Veronica sighed and moved to her feet carefully approaching the other as if she were some kind of wild animal. “I – you left before we could even talk about anything.” Heather, now tinted red, looked off to the ground and shrugged. “I don’t see what there was to talk about, you’re clearly disinterested so we should – “

“Whoa, I never said anything about being ‘disinterested’,” She interrupted. “I was – I am – definitely drunk – one second you were there and then you were gone and I didn’t even really know what the hell happened.” Heather pulled her head up to look at Veronica again, brow furrowed, almost boring a hole through her with her gaze. “So what are you then?” Veronica’s mouth hung open as a few filler sounds escaping her mouth her shoulders falling a little. A long moment passed before she finally worked up a genuine answer, “I – I don’t know, like, I – I’ve never thought about dating a girl, let alone you.” She held up a finger quickly silencing the words on Heather’s lips, “But, I – I think I’d be willing to test whatever it is you – you want out?”

Heather sighed, trying to take it in. “So, what do you want? A date?” Veronica laughed and shrugged again, “I don’t know, you seem way more confident about this than I do.” Heather took in a quick breath to speak and then paused, looking up as if gauging the thought itself. Another moment passed and she spoke, “Would you be willing to test it now?” Veronica, now roughly a foot away from the other girl looked confused. “What d’you mean? Like, how?” Heather stood, closing the distance between them, looking all too hopeful. She cupped Veronica’s face, a soft smile crossing her lips, finding it all too funny that she had never realized she was shorter than Veronica outside her heels. Another moment passed, Veronica let out a shaky breath and took the dive.

Their lips somehow gently crashed together, Veronica’s hands finding a home on the small of Heather’s back. A smile crossed Heather’s lips and she dropped her hands to rest on Veronica’s shoulders. Veronica began to explore the other’s lips, a nervous laugh being let out between a kiss. They bumped noses and teeth a few times, however, neither found that to be a detriment. Their make-out session quickly grew sloppy – Heather maneuvered her hands under the back of Veronica’s shirt, her lips trailing over to her neck, placing messy open-mouthed kisses. Veronica’s slid open, her breathing growing heavy, okay, so maybe she was a little more into this than she had initially thought.

* * *

Veronica first woke to a pounding headache. She groaned softly as she kept her eyes closed and buried her face into the body in front of her. She froze – _body in front of her._ Slowly, trying to ignore the searing pain emanating from her head she stole a look at the person in her arms. Heather Chandler, only carefully covered by a blanket and very peacefully snoozing. A bemused smile splayed across Veronica’s face; she had never seen Heather look this happy or even this vulnerable.

The memories of the night before hit her like a freight train. A small giggle escaped – she couldn’t help it – she had fucked Heather Chandler. That was like every boy at Westerburg High School’s wet dream and she hadn’t even gone on a date with her yet. The laugh stirred the sleeping girl whose eyes fluttered open, a sleepy smile finding its way onto her face. “Good morning,” Heather purred out, stretching as she turned to face Veronica.

The two shared a look for a long moment and they each let out a laugh. “This is…weird” Veronica spoke, a grin forming on her lips. Heather sat up, “Good weird I hope.” She stood, beginning her morning routine, trying to tidy herself up to get ready for school on time. Veronica laid down back onto the bed and shrugged, “I mean I have nothing else comparatively so I’m obligated to go with the ‘yes’ answer.”

Heather, shoving herself into a bra turned to face Veronica and raised a brow, “You don’t mean…” Veronica gave an entirely all-too-embarrassed smile and spoke, “You…were my first.” Heather continued to get dressed and shook her head a little, “Well, you sure didn’t act like that was your first time.” Veronica grinned at Heather and offered up a shrug, “Guess I’m just a natural, huh?” Heather, rolling her eyes, smoothed her skirt and turned toward the other girl. “Let’s not make any assumptions – and hurry up,” She paused to check her swatch, “We’re going to be almost too late to being _fashionably_ late.” Veronica sat up, holding the blanket to her chest and mumbled, almost embarrassed, “Uh, I don’t know if you remember, but me coming here wasn’t exactly a planned slumber party – I kind of need some clothes?”

Heather mumbled an expletive under her breath and quickly made her way back into her closet. “Heather?” Veronica called craning her neck, unsure if she had even heard her. A moment Veronica found clothes being thrown at her. Quickly she changed, feeling a little nervous about the incredibly short skirt Heather had given her, trying to tug it down further. Heather’s eyes raked over Veronica as she began to walk out of the room, “Don’t worry – it’ll give me something to look at today.”

Veronica blushed, slid on her shoes, and jogged after Heather. The pair made their way to the high school when it hit Veronica like a brick. “Heather,” She said gaining the attention of the girl parking the car. “What?” Veronica bit her lip, fear crossing her eyes. “I – that JD guy – um – he saw us. At – at the party.” She let the bomb drop and continued before Heather could speak, “He’s trying to blackmail me – us? He basically said if I don’t go on a date with him he’s going to tell the whole school.”

“Who would believe him?” Heather swallowed; nerves overwhelming her usually assured tone. Veronica’s shoulders slumped before cautiously taking Heather’s hand and speaking, “I don’t know.” Heather squeezed Veronica’s hand with incredible care and sighed, “All we can do is hope he didn’t say anything and act like nothing happened.” Heather took in a deep breath, shut her eyes, and climbed out of the car. “Nothing happened, we’re just friends.”

Uneasily, the girls walked into the school and although the air felt uneasy, life moved on past them. They shared a look and continued down the hall to meet up with the other members of their clique. Chandler took the lead, Veronica falling behind.

“Good morning,” Heather spoke, pushing between the other Heathers into her locker. Veronica leaned against the lockers, practically holding her breath as she scanned the hallway. No one seemed to look like they were thinking out of the ordinary. She let out the sigh, maybe everything was okay; maybe they were just safe. “So, did you guys have fun at the party?” Mac asked, chipper as ever. Chandler answered easily, “The parts I can remember.” Duke nodded, amused, “You _were_ pretty wasted when you left. I don’t know how you didn’t crash.”

Chandler finished pulling her books out of her locker and scoffed, “Some of us never get drunk enough to crash.” Veronica winced at that – if they were going to date or whatever it was that they were doing she preferred that she kept her alive. It was half of the reason she was blowing JD off; she knew that Heather could die at any waking moment. She knew that any of them could. Realizing how choked up she had gotten, she cleared her throat, “I went and checked on her - she was totally fine. No bumps or bruises.”

Heather hid a sly smile behind a cough, turned on her heel and led the group to their homeroom. Heather not instantly being dethroned by the Heatherettes signaled that all was well in the world. Maybe, she could even get excited about dating Heather instead of feeling truly dreadful. Of course, not all good things get the chance to last. About two steps behind the Heathers, Veronica found herself cut off from entering the class by none other than JD. “You know, a bounce in your step is definitely a sign that you’re excited about something.”

“Good morning, JD,” Veronica spoke, quickly averting her gaze to the ground. He continued, essentially pinning her to the lockers next to the door, “I was thinking about what you said last night, and I think you need to reconsider getting to know me.” The threat itself was thinly veiled. Veronica knew that. She gritted her teeth and shook her head, “Not gonna happen.” He pulled back slightly letting out a strained laugh. “You know, you really, you are just something.”

“What are you going to do shoot me?”

“I wouldn’t do that to you – not after the talk we had yesterday. That’d just be unfair, darling, you see you and me we’re…“

Veronica’s gaze trailed from JD to over his shoulder. Behind him, a stiffly irate Heather Chandler stood. His gaze followed Veronica’s and he took a step back to face the Red Heather, herself. “Can I help you?” Heather spoke, a hand resting on her hip, inserting herself between Veronica and JD. He held his hands up in defense shooting a look to Veronica, “Aw, your little girlfriend came to save the day.” Heather scoffed, her eyes practically rolling back into her head, “Are you done?” JD mimed a zipping motion on his lips.

“Good, now I’m fairly certain, she said ‘no’.” Heather turned her attention to Veronica, “You said no?” She nodded. Heather took a step forward toward JD, practically barking out orders, “Do you know what ‘no’ means, JD? Of course, you don’t – cease, desist, stop, don’t - these are just a few words that might help it ring a bell.” She let out a laugh, “God, it’d almost be funny if you weren’t so pathetic.” Less than a foot stood between them and she let a smile cross her face, “Unluckily for you, she’s dating someone and doesn’t have time to hang out with a Jesse James action figure.”

“Listen here you _dyke_ I could blow you out _-”_ JD spat out only to be interrupted by the bell. Chandler turned on her heel, putting her back to JD and grabbing Veronica by the wrist, pulling her into the classroom and past JD. Heather’s heart was thudding all too-loudly in her chest. “Are you okay?” She asked as the announcements rang over the loudspeaker. Veronica sighed as she sat into her desk, “I just – I need to figure out how to get rid of him.”

_Dear Diary,_

_I’m having a crisis. JD is going to do something. I don’t know what yet._

_Oh, and before I forget. I have a girlfriend. You know, Heather Chandler, my girlfriend. My girlfriend who is Heather Chandler._


	4. Reflect Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica loves the library, Mac loves horror houses.

Two weeks went by and Veronica could swear she was being followed everywhere she went. Maybe it was the anxiety of knowing full well what JD was capable of or the absolute possibility of being caught out on a date with Heather. Whatever it was, she clearly tried to wave it off as an overly active imagination and focus on the present – study hall went from a period of Veronica actually working on homework to Veronica, well, working on Heather. It has started innocently enough; holding hands under the library table as they worked on homework, stealing a few kisses in the stacks. That is, until Heather upper the ante.

A little under a week after Homecoming, in the midst of working on homework Heather had reached a hand over to Veronica’s lap and grabbed onto Veronica’s thigh, moving closer a small smile quirking up on her face, “Veronica, to conjugate this would I say ‘viens d’arriver’ or viens de mettre’?” A blush crept its way up her cheeks as Heather’s hand slowly ventured further down. Shooting her girlfriend a pleading look she glanced over at the worksheet, attempting to actually assist her. Veronica’s voice caught in her throat as she attempted to answer, “Well, you –you didn’t –“ She bit her lip stopping the words stumbling out of her mouth as Heather fully reached under Veronica’s skirt. Veronica paused for a moment, attempting to focus, “You…you didn’t put – put yourself there. You – _Heather -”_ Veronica said with a punctuated gasp which turned into a cough as she involuntarily bucked her hips into Heather’s wandering hand. “You arrived there just then – not put yourself then.” She shot Heather a final look urging her to _stop_ , Heather eyed her almost hungrily as she, thankfully, pulled back to correct her error on her worksheet.

Naturally, this instance escalated. What went from less-than-innocent teasing led to where Veronica found herself now; the AV closet, kneeling on the ground, pulling her head back from in between a disheveled Heather’s thighs. Veronica wiped at her mouth and moved to stand, “You know you really need to be way quieter, do you want the whole school to hear you?” A small breathless laugh escaped Heather, as she leant against the wall, gazing at the ceiling, still attempting to bring herself back down to Earth. “No one ever comes in here. Not even the nerds. We’re safe.” Veronica pulled her taller counterpart into a kiss, smiling a little, “Yeah, well, it’s kind of next to the quietest place – the library.”

Pulling herself away from her girlfriend, Heather straightened herself up, pulling out a compact to wipe the smeared lipstick up. “You’re just lucky that we have to get to class or I’d show you just how loud you can be.” Veronica rolled her eyes letting out a short-lived laugh; something shifted as she saw the door open and close in one swift motion. Silence deafened the two, sharing a look of equal panic and concern.

“Hello?” Veronica called out.

Radio Silence.

“Anybody in here?”

“H- “

Veronica found herself caught off-guard, yelping, and staggering back toward Chandler as Mac jumped out, a big bright laugh escaping her mouth. Chandler’s concern quickly dropped itself into what may have been her closest eye-roll to a full rotation to date. Veronica clutched at her chest, only half-relaxing as she spoke, “Jesus, Heather. You scared the hell out of me.” The cheerleader let out another small giggle and she spoke, “You guys have been in here forever – I thought that something got you, but it’s almost Halloween so I thought, ‘wait a second, I can be the something that gets them’.”

“Halloween is two weeks away, Heather.” Chandler reminded, a hand coming to rest on her hip. The smaller girl, clearly energized, bounced in place as she spoke, “I know, but there’s that Haunted House they’re setting up downtown and I know we talked about going before, but I really think it’d be fun” Veronica spoke as her pulse fully leveled out. “Yeah, where’s your sense of adventure, Heather? It sounds fun.”

Heather, decidedly not enjoying the playful looks on both her best friend and her girlfriend’s face, threw her hands up in defeat, “Fine, fine, fuck it. We don’t have any other plans anyway.”

The school day flew by, nothing exactly monumental taking place. A quick pit stop to pregame at Heather’s house and the group found themselves standing in front of the Haunted House. Veronica finished chugging the rest of her beer as Heather spoke, “So are we ready?” A smile split across Mac’s face and she nodded eagerly, “I’ve been thinking about it since I heard it on the radio”. A non-committal shrug was earned from Duke who looked as if she couldn’t care less either way. Tossing her beer in a nearby trashcan Veronica spoke, “I’ll hold your hand if you get scared, Heather”. She nudged the other girl a few times before earning a hard shove in return before Heather made her way to the door of the Haunt.

The building itself wasn’t huge; it had housed an old mom-and-pop shop that had been shoved out by big business and now housed only temporary pop-ups like a Santa Village or, in this case, a Haunted House. Heather shoved a fistful of bills toward the adolescent attendant, indicating that the rest of her posse was to follow her in. Each girl stepped into the darkness of the Haunt to come face to face with a sea of scare actors. Chandler let out a displeased grunt, grasping in the dark for Veronica’s hand. A smug grin slid across Veronica’s face, squeezing her hand very gently and spoke, “Chiiiiiicken.” An actor dressed as a clown jumped out in front of them, which earned a squeal from each Heather – Mac clinging to the back of Chandler’s blazer with one hand and the other wrapped tightly around Duke’s wrist.

They made it further into the dark scene in front of them – the group finding them themselves subject to a few fake hospital sets and asylum scenes, which of course made for endless squealing from each girl. Veronica, slightly out of breath from the soft jog she made to get away from a girl in a straight jacket, stumbled into the next section of the house. A mirror maze laid before her and something unsettled itself in her stomach. Chandler came after her a few seconds later, swearing under her breath, “Jesus fucking Christ”. Veronica turned back, giving her a quick smile and straightening up, “Where’s the others?” Heather had already made her way to her girlfriend, reclaiming her hand in a death grip and spoke, “Last time I saw them, they were running from the freak with a chainsaw – so not too far behind.”

A grin spread across Veronica’s face as she pulled the other girl close to her, “Oh no, we’re all alone.” Heather let out a short laugh, wrapping her arms around Veronica’s neck and pulled her in for a kiss, “You’re incredibly lucky I think that nerds are charming”. A few more kisses were exchanged between the two when Veronica finally pulled back holding Chandler at an arm’s length, “We should really just finish this thing up – I have this burning desire to _not_ get caught making out in a haunted house.” Heather, although disappointed, conceded and began walking through the mirror maze. The maze was almost uneventful, the two girls chattering absentmindedly - until Veronica had run directly into a mirror, which earned a loud laugh from Chandler. Veronica, both laughing and crying, crumpled to the ground, cupping her head.

“Oh my god, Ronnie.” Heather laughed out sinking to the ground next to her and began to study her head. “I’m fine – I’m fine,” Veronica managed to laugh out, trying to steady her uneven breath and placed her hands over Heather’s on the side of her cheeks. A small snapping sound interrupted Veronica’s train of thought and she squinted, craning her neck toward the sound. “Did you hear that?” The other girl turned her head in the direction Veronica had indicated, scanning the dimly lit space, “Hear what?”

Veronica shook her head slightly, anxiety spiking in the back of her throat. “It sounded like something over there.” Heather turned Veronica’s head back toward her, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead before helping her back to her feet. “It’s probably Heather trying to scare us again,” She stepped behind her girlfriend, trying to see whatever it was that had scared her so badly. “Or it’s entirely like that we are in a haunted house.” The sentence was punctuated by Heather grabbing Veronica around the ribs who then jumped and released a half-laugh half-shout, “Heather!” Heather slid her arms fully around the girl in front of her, bringing her head to rest on the other’s shoulder, “The faster we can finish this up, the faster we can go back to my house.”

Veronica angled her head to catch a glimpse of her girlfriend’s face, a small smile found its way upon her lip and she spoke, “I can’t keep going if you don’t let me go.” Heather rolled her eyes, letting her hands drop down to her side, catching one of Veronica’s hands in her own as she lead the charge through the rest of the maze. A quick flicker of something behind them caught Veronica’s attention through the mirrors. She swirled around calling out, “Okay, is someone actually messing with us?” Veronica wasn’t a huge fan of surprises thanks to dealing with the whole time-traveling situation. She knew what could happen in this timeline, but nothing had been consistent with what she had known. Hell, it was vastly different than what she had known.

“Veronica, we are _fine –_ can we just go? It has to be someone fucking around.” Heather turned back toward the direction they had been walking in only to discover the looming figure of JD in front of her. Heather jumped a little before rage overtook her, “Do you have a party trick that isn’t harassing people?” Veronica turned around slowly, her throat starting to close up she made eye contact with JD. Carefully she placed herself between JD and Heather, trying to create some distance, “Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone?”

JD chuckled, a hand shoved in his trench coat the other wildly gesturing, “You know, I gave you time Veronica, I really did, and _wow_ you just still haven’t come around.” If she hadn’t been on the defensive before Veronica was certainly nervous now. For one, she had to defend her newfound sexuality, and coming arm-in-arm with that was protecting her and Heather’s lives. A leap of confidence forced its way out of Veronica as she eyes JD carefully, “Why would I come around to you, you threatened me, JD – that is so not first date material.”

JD took a step closer reaching into his pocket, producing a gun. Veronica’s blood ran cold all of the air exiting from her body. She took a step backward shoving Heather back into the maze mumbling to her over her shoulder, “We have to go – we – we need to go Heather.” Heather had gone stiff. She had seen a gun in movies obviously, but it was different when someone was holding it and pointing it at you. She froze, her eyes wide, jaw tightly clenched until Veronica pushed her back again – then she bolted. Heather turned and ran, Veronica following suit behind her.

JD fired and a numbing sensation found its way into Veronica’s shoulder. Veronica’s line of vision immediately tore to her shoulder – blood was steadily trickling out – she pressed a hand to it and finally looked up. Heather was nowhere to be see and she didn’t want to risk calling out for her in fear of giving away her position. The only sound left in the maze was the light panting Veronica was desperately attempting to conceal. She slumped into the wall, her blood now streaming down her arm. She had to get to Heather. Had to get her out of there. She had to get _herself_ out of there.

Veronica managed to move forward a mumble stuck low in her throat, “Heather?” Running headfirst into a mirror she crumpled into the ground. She couldn’t think straight, hell she couldn’t see straight. She blindly called out for Heather again while trying to pull herself into a crawl. She knew JD could only be moments behind her, but she had to work quickly. She was desperate. A moment later, Heather came barreling through, skidding to a halt and kneeling in an attempt to pull Veronica from the ground. “Ronnie? Are you okay?” Heather whispered, placing her hand over the open-wound in her girlfriend’s shoulder. Pulling her hands back momentarily she blinked, horrified at the sight of the blood. “We need to haul ass out of here, Sawyer,” She stated, dragging her up off of the ground. “Just – just stay with me, we’ll get out of here”.

One could hope that the girls make it out just fine, make it out alive. Things don’t always work out the way we would hope that they would. As they rounded the next corner JD held the gun straight to Heather’s temple and a shot rang out. The world went blinding white for a moment, Veronicas ears rang, and she and Heather fell back to the ground in a pile. Veronica took a moment, trying to pull Heather off of her – pulling far enough back to come into contact with her eyes; they had glossed over, the last sign of life flickering away. Veronica looked from her eyes over to the side of her head and a scream rang out.

Veronica didn’t exactly realize she was the one that was screaming for a moment as she scrambled away from the now-corpse of her girlfriend. She quickly moved back over and began to shake her, frantic to try to get her up, “Heather? Heather? Oh my god – don’t do this again – oh my god – Heather?” This was permanent. This was _real_ like when Heather had swallowed Drano. This was like watching Kurt and Ram get shot to death. This was like watching JD try to blow up the school. She planted a kiss onto Heather’s forehead as tears streamed their way down her face, blood now thoroughly seeping its way into Heather’s hair and all over Veronica’s hands and arms. JD stepped between Veronica and the body kicking Veronica back onto the ground. She groaned, fighting to get back up, and kicking at the floor to slide away from him.

A sob ripped its way from her throat as she began to yell, “What the _fuck_ is your problem?” She forced herself to her knees only to have JD grab her by the throat. She began to weakly claw and struggle against his grip - as he spoke, “I’m doing you a favor – you don’t want to be with her did you?” He knelt, pulling her face closer to his, “She was just using you, you know that right?” Veronica’s face turned bright red, her breathing becoming more and more shallow and then she spat right in his face. A grunt escaped JD’s lips as he threw Veronica back and wiped his face free of her spit. “You fucking _dyke.”_ He swore, pulling the gun back up toward Veronica. And then he shot.

Veronica sat up straight, panting, her eyes wide. Her alarm clock was ringing. She grabbed at her shoulder, palming over the unruptured skin. A chill ran down her spine and she slowly turned her head toward her alarm clock. September 1st, 1989. Her heart caught in her throat and she reached for her diary. Glancing through the pages only to find them to be filled up to the 1st of September.

_Dear Diary,_

_Here we go again._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha sorry for the long wait in the upd8, but I'm already started on the next chapter so it shouldn't take terribly long.


	5. Fear & Loathing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica readjusts to the reset. She has to deal with coping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the 'f' slur is used in this  
> period typical homophobia tw I guess?  
> I'm a mess and not really editing this before I post it - yeet.

Veronica forced herself onto the bus, _God,_ today was going to be awful. She prewrote her hall-pass for the Heathers. She stood up for Martha. And she found herself back in the bathroom. Where everything started. She wondered if Heather would remember anything as the three girls walked into the bathroom. Her eyes scanned Chandler, trying to find any sign that it was the girl she had gotten so close with. Veronica let out a deep sigh, her eyes fluttering shut, trying to force the visions of Heather with her brains scattered all over the mirrors _out_. It was clear Heather was as stuck up and uncaring as ever; not that Veronica didn’t…like her but she just hadn’t gotten a personality adjustment yet.

Fleming entered and Veronica tensed. “Actually Miss Fleming, all four of us are out on a hall pass – yearbook committee,” She interrupted while extending the note out toward her. Fleming eyed Veronica suspiciously but thrust the hall pass back into her hands and nodded. Chandler approached Veronica, looking her up and down and asked, “Who are you?” Veronica bit her lip, trying desperately to not adjust this new timeline in any obscure way, “Veronica – Sawyer. I crave a boon. Let me sit with you guys – just once – no talking necessary – if people think you guys tolerate me, they’ll leave me alone”. The Heathers laughed, ultimately, however, accepting Veronica as the new blood of their clique. 

It took Veronica time to even adjust to the fact she had watched her girlfriend get shot before her very eyes. It took her even longer to adjust to the fact _she_ had been shot and got the chance to reset everything. Why did she keep getting sent back in time? Why was it _her_ problem that everyone was dead or had died. A week or so after her so-called resurrection she found herself sitting next to Heather during their study hall together. Veronica had been scribbling down an action plan. Either how to get JD arrested immediately or, the less savory option, kill him herself. She had a proverbial conspiracy board of where he would be and what he would do – which also meant she knew where to avoid. Veronica glanced up from her notebook to catch Chandler’s gaze. Heather had been staring for far too long and that’s when it hit her – Heather definitively had a crush on her. Regardless of the timeline, regardless of her actions, or how disinterested she had tried to make herself. 

While taking care of JD was paramount and she didn’t want Heather to get hurt, Veronica felt…she felt bold that day. Setting her pencil down she looked up at Heather. Her eyes softened and she got a smile on her face, trying to gain the trust of the Head-Bitch herself. “Uh, hey there.” She spoke, nudging Heather under the table with her foot. Heather’s steely exterior weakened for a moment as she replied, “Sorry. You have something in your hair, I was trying to decide if I should let you know.” Veronica stifled a grin and rolled her eyes a little bit. Maybe her plans for JD could wait. She pushed her notebook to the side, sat up a little straighter and spoke, “Hey Heather? I was wondering if you’d wanna go do something tonight?”

That caught Heather’s attention, tearing her away from her half-hearted attempt at homework. She eyed Veronica cautiously, her lips pursed while she held the words that were on her tongue. Sensing Chandler’s hesitancy Veronica quickly piped up, “Um, Heather and Heather don’t have to come or anything. I just think it would be fun to spend more time with you.” The memory of Heather’s substandard flirting attempts hit her like a brick and she added, mirroring the other timeline, “You’re just interesting you know? We’re similar – we think like the same.”

A red tint crept its way up Chandler’s face, she swallowed fairly hard and replied, “Where do you want to go?” A large grin slapped itself across Veronica’s face; she leant forward, she was going to have fun flirting with her. “We could catch a movie at the mall? Or…you could come to my house and we could rent a video and just…hang out.” She made a quick note of how Heather glanced at her lips and back up to her eyes – a little bit of shock hitting her face upon the realization Veronica had been watching the whole time. If she hadn’t been watching that closely, Veronica wouldn’t have noticed the nervous little laugh Heather let out before clearing her throat. Veronica placed a hand over Heather’s giving it a squeeze, “Please?”

Then, Heather actually smiled; a big goofy one. Veronica had chinked away enough of her rough-and-tumble exterior to get through. “Fine. When do you want me over?” Veronica grinned as Heather gave her hand a weak squeeze back, “If we want to make it a sleepover you could come around 8?” Heather pulled her hand back and taking her pen back in her hand getting back to working on her homework. 

“It’s a date.”

* * *

Veronica was giddy. It was weird being the one having to make the moves, having to approach things carefully. It was so funny to Veronica just how _dense_ she had been when Heather had been hitting on her. But here she was – in her living room after pleading with her parents to give her the TV for the night – a bag of Jiffy Pop pre-popped for their convenience and a wide selection of VHS for them to choose from. Out of habit, she picked up ‘The Princess Bride’ but she figured that wasn’t exactly up Heather’s alley. Veronica was anxious – she just wanted her to be there already – it was a little past 8 and she hadn’t quite shown.

A quarter past and finally Heather pulled onto her street. Veronica leaped out of her spot on the couch, running to the door, pausing a moment to wait for Heather to knock, waiting _another_ moment so she didn’t seem to eager and finally opened the door. “Hey, uh, come in!” Veronica chirped while stepping back into her house. Heather, toted her backpack and a small duffle bag in with her, giving a small smile, “Quaint”. Veronica rolled her eyes while shutting the door behind them, classic Heather Chandler. Almost out of habit she went to pull Heather in for a kiss, remembering last second that wasn’t what they did at this point. She hesitantly pulled her grip back from Heather and spoke, “Sorry, just wanted to um…tell you that you can just drop your stuff by the door if you want.” 

Heather shot her a questioning look but chose to drop her bags at her feet, kicking them up against the wall. Veronica went over to the collection of tapes sitting on the coffee table and spoke, “Um, so I have The Princess Bride, Beetlejuice, Hairspray, and The Shining – I didn’t know how you felt about horror movies so I added that one to the mix.” She gave a quick pop of finger-guns, now feeling altogether too awkward; was it hot in there? It felt hot in there. Heather took a seat on the couch scanning over the movies and chewing on her lip – a steady hum came out before she grabbed ‘The Princess Bride’ and held it up, “This one.” Veronica got a smirk got on her face, utterly thrilled that _Heather Chandler_ liked The Princess Bride.

Veronica took the video and popped it into her VHS player and then sat down next to Heather, finally taking a moment to breathe, “Hi”. Heather had an amused smile cross her face and she rose an eyebrow, “Are you okay?” She turned to face Heather releasing another nervous breath, “Yeah, the best I’ve been in a long time”. Chandler furrowed her brow, not entirely trusting of the other girl’s answer, but lounged into the couch, turning her attention to the movie.

Veronica found herself watching Heather during the movie – she just couldn’t help herself. When Heather was at peace she was just beautiful; she smiled, she actually laughed, her hair was pulled back up into a scrunchie, and her body language altogether _comfortable_. Not that she was super desperate or romantic or anything. She just…missed her girlfriend. Closing her eyes she got nervous, what if she had to watch her die again. Veronica couldn’t handle it for a third time. She never knew if it was going to be permanent. She shifted in her spot on the couch, moving slightly closer and catching Heather’s eye.

“Sawyer, be honest, are you okay?” She asked turning her full attention to the girl. “I mean, you’ve been staring at me for the past half-hour like a real ditz and I just want to know what you’re so damn interested in.” Veronica, unprepared for the confrontation, began to stumble over her words, “Uh – I – um – I just think that you’re – you had popcorn on your face.” Veronica bit down on her bottom lip, trying to recover from admitting she had been staring. She knew that Heather was into her, but she didn’t know _when_ Heather had started liking her and this could risk it all.

Heather crossed her legs, turning her full attention toward Veronica, an eyebrow quirked up, “You know Sawyer, you’re cute – but you’re not the best liar.” Veronica gulped up a breath, all-too-nervous, “What?” A short laugh forced out of Heather’s mouth – she knew that was a bullshit answer. She began to push; she wasn’t intending to let Veronica out of this that easily. She maintained her gaze for a long moment, the only sounds in the background being the movie and the irregular breathing from both girls. 

“You’re a fag,” Heather practically laughed out, shaking her head a little, and leaning toward her. The word hit Veronica like a ton of bricks, Jesus Heather, _fag_? Fear flickered over her eyes and she found herself pulling backward and turning away from the other girl to try to blow it off, “I’m not – I wouldn’t say _that_.” Heather reached for Veronica’s face, pulling her to look back at her. 

“Sawyer, look at me.”

“Veronica.”

“ _Veronica.”_

Finally relenting, she pulled her eyes back up to Heather’s, practically shaking; she had killed people, she had faked suicide notes, she had _died_ and yet, this – _this_ was the scariest thing she had done in her life. “I…like one girl. Just…one.” She said meekly, her voice growing weak toward the end. Heather, still gently holding the girl’s chin gave a small teasing smile, “Well, well, well. Look at our little lesbian”. Veronica clenched her teeth together and moved to speak, ultimately humiliated, but Heather moved her thumb to run over her lips and jaw to silence her, moving to speak, “Kiss me.”

She gently cupped Veronica’s face, pulling her in closer, which, genuinely surprised Veronica. Unlike the other kisses they had shared in the other timeline this one was soft, sweet, and gentle which made Veronica _melt._ Heather pulled her up onto her lap, despite being the shorter in this situation she was determined to take the lead. Veronica wrenched her lips away from Heather’s, her chest heaving for air, “Wait – wait – wait – why are you doing this?” A more genuine grin planted itself on her face and she replied, “Takes a fag to know a fag.” 

Veronica sat up straight, pushing herself off of Heather – holding her partner’s shoulders, gauging her facial expression, “Okay, sure, gay – whatever – what do you want from me?” Veronica Sawyer _knew_ Heather was a raging lesbian. In their other timeline Heather had gushed about girls, regularly coerced her into playing ‘fuck, marry, kill’ when they watched movies, and well…she had been her girlfriend.

“You’re cute,” Heather stated, a sly grin forming. “Why do you think I even wanted to invite you into our little ‘popular girls’ club?” Heather’s hands slid down to her hips and gave her sides a gentle squeeze, which forced Veronica to speak, “Because I saved your ass – I’m useful I guess?” Heather rolled her eyes and let out another laugh, “Such a pillowcase, Sawyer, I _like_ you, idiot.”

“This can qualify as a first date.” Heather thought aloud, “You’re cute, you’re funny despite the ‘dad jokes’, a little dorky – but you’re in luck. I like dorky.” She clicked her tongue and shrugged, “I think it’d be appropriate to date.” Veronica smiled. Another thing she got right in this timeline. They kissed again.

* * *

It took Veronica almost all of her pull with Heather to convince her to _not_ prank Martha like this. Almost an hour of begging and saying how it isn’t fair and ‘if she really cared about her why would she be so mean to her oldest friend’. Maybe it was a little manipulative, but hey, it got the job _done_. She was trying to be as perceptive as possible with the Heathers and the entire situation with JD. What she wasn’t able to perceive was Duke.

Veronica was leaned against Heather’s locker, waving her off to class when Duke confronted her – all five feet of her. “We need to talk.” Duke stated, holding her textbooks to her chest. “Okay?” Veronica said, amused; she hadn’t been this forward until Heather had died in the other timeline, so this begged the question – why was Duke so bold. “Now,” Duke demanded, tapping her foot impatiently on the ground. “We have Journalism in like five minutes, can’t we just talk in class?” Veronica asked, fully turning toward her. The Heather rolled her eyes almost clearly back into her head a disgusted grunt coming out, “Listen, you’re doing some pretty freaky shit with Heather and I just figured you didn’t want the whole newspaper hearing about it.”

She stiffened and her face hardened as she crossed her arms, “I don’t know what you mean by ‘freaky shit’, Heather, care to enlighten me?” Duke sighed, scoffing, “You know what I mean – you’re planning on killing the new kid.” A look of absolute relief crossed Veronica’s face as she barked out a laugh. She held her side, doubling over, literal tears pouring out from her eyes and clutching at the lockers to support herself. “Oh my _God.”_ Veronica snorted out, trying to level herself out, “Holy _shit,_ you – Oh my God I – you – no you don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

Another small delayed giggle came from Veronica as she pulled herself upright, “He – he’s just – he’s been following me around school since he beat up Kurt and Ram.” Heather shot a glare toward Veronica taking a slight step away from the scene she was causing, “That doesn’t explain the _ax-murderer_ plans you had in your notebook.” Veronica rubbed at her eyes finally taking one last big breath and sighing, “It’s a joke, Heather. You’ve heard of those right?” Heather stormed off to class. “See you tonight!” Veronica called after.

The rest of the class day passed by and the Homecoming party was that night. Veronica had to get her A-Game on – hyper-vigilance was key, she knew she could attract JD if she and Heather were in the right place at the right time. The trick _this_ time would be ditching Heather at the party. Still, she had to contend with more pressing matters. Including the myriad of love-bites left on her neck by none other than her mischievous girlfriend. The pair were sat in Veronica’s bedroom, Heather dutifully applying makeup to cover the sea of bruises she had left on the other’s skin.

“I really have to cover _all_ of them?” Heather asked, almost incredulously. She carefully ran her fingers over a few of the uncovered marks, admiring her handiwork. Heather liked all the colors; purples, blues, red, and for the more severe ones – black. It was like a distorted lipstick smudge mixed in with a sunset. Needless to say she was proud of the claim she had staked upon Veronica, however, Veronica was none-too-pleased.

“I mean if you want everyone and their mother to know that we’re dating sure, by all means, leave my neck magenta. I would just absolutely thrive off of that.” Veronica stated, her voice absolutely _dripping_ with sarcasm. Heather rolled her eyes and continued to cover the bruises, “What _if_ everyone knew – it’s not like they can knock me down or anything. It’s not concrete proof.” That statement was bold. Even for Heather Chandler. Something was…up.

Veronica put a hand over one of Heather’s that was still covering things up. “Hey – hey, what’s up? You’re acting like someone kicked your puppy.” Heather, out of habit, covered the look on her face trying to hide her actual emotions; she didn’t like to talk about her feelings. Feelings made her vulnerable and even with the person she clearly trusted the most, Heather didn’t feel fully comfortable. She sighed, offering a shrug and setting the makeup brush to the side, “I just feel like you’re trying to hide everything. But I understand that hiding this – us – is the only safe thing to do. I’m frustrated, Sawyer.” Heather huffed, fixing her gaze to a distant spot in the room, trying to ignore the overwhelming emotions boiling inside her. “I don’t want to lose the respect that I’ve fought for but I just – I just want to tell everyone,” Heather stated, sucking air through her teeth. 

“Tell them what?”

“That you’re my girlfriend.” 

The couple leaves for the party, makeup forgotten.

The party had the exact same sensation that is had had the first time around – overwhelming, nerve-wracking, and altogether exciting. Veronica had nerves for a fairly different reason though – barely an inch of her skin was covered all, thanks to the dress Heather had so graciously chosen for her to wear, and the evidence of her relationship was laid out for the world to see. Veronica hung closely to Chandler, who stood at attention, acutely aware that the other girl was anxious beyond belief.

“Do you want to dance?” Heather suggested, gently nudging Veronica’s side. “It’ll take your mind off of things.” Veronica surveyed the crowd, noting that Duke and McNamara were both preoccupied doing shots and offered a shrug in response, “Definitely wouldn’t suck.” Chandler laced their hands together and drug her out to the crowd and began to dance. She tousled her own hair, swaying to the rhythm, her hand maintaining a firm grasp on Veronica’s. The other girl let out a nervous laugh, they had danced before but that had been before Veronica even understood that Heather had a crush on her. 

“Veronica – no one is looking. Let loose. This is fun.” Heather offered, giving her hand a squeeze. Chandler took both of her hands to try to coax her into dancing. Veronica began to sway ever so slightly, a weak smile building on her face. Jokingly, she spun Heather under her arm, garnering an actual – albeit drunken – laugh from her. As if on cue, the song switched to the same slow dance it had in the other timelines. The girls froze – wanting to continue dancing together but unsure of how to proceed without outing themselves to the entirety of the senior class. The choice was made for them when a thoroughly shitfaced Kurt Kelly rammed straight into the

“Whoa-ho-ho, hey ‘Ronica.” He greeted sliding an arm around her shoulders. Veronica shot Heather a look – a desperate plea for help. Her mouth moved, a reluctance taking over her speech, “Hi Kurt.” Kurt pushed her back by her shoulders to get a look at what was all over her neck and chest, “Oh shit, ‘Ronica’s been getting busy.” He laughed, all too impressed that she had actually gotten some and continued, “So, uh, what are you doing later tonight.” Veronica’s eyes might as well have done a full rotation in her head and she furrowed her brow, “Sleepover – Heather’s house.” 

He grinned and said, “Can I come with?” Heather stepped in, putting a protective arm around Veronica’s waist, “Kurt, sweetie, how about you go check on what Heather is up to. She’s been talking about you all night.” Kurt was one of those boys, especially when he was drunk, who were easy to divert; his eyes brightened and a cheesy grin covered his face. “McNamara? Oh, hell yeah!” He cheered, thrusting his solo-cup into the air and shoving his way toward the other two Heathers while chanting ‘Mac-Attack’.

Veronica brought a hand up to rest on her neck as if she were cradling the bruises Heather had bestowed her with. Objectification was something she could only deal with so much of – adding the extra layer that boys like Kurt were unafraid to ignore the fact she was seeing someone? That made it harder. Something was offset in Veronica and she felt a wave of nausea hit her, the party now far too overwhelming. “Can we go sit?” Veronica asked, running her fingers over her neck repeatedly. Heather scanned the crowd again when she finally nodded she took Veronica by the wrist to slide off to the side of the party and upstairs. Heather found a bedroom and wrenched it open, quietly shutting the door once they were in.

“Veronica are you okay?” Heather asked once the party was locked away behind them. Veronica shrugged as she looked around the room trying to just calm herself back down, everything was a shock to her system at this point. Sure, she had slept but she hadn’t really had time to just sit and think about everything that was going on in her life - it was school, Heathers, JD, homework, sleep – on repeat. No chance to just _stop._ Veronica sniffled a little, her bottom lip jutting out in a pout, she was getting outside of her league with this. Heather carefully approached her and pulled her into a tight hug, allowing Veronica to bury her head into her shoulder and weep. She ran her fingers through Veronica’s hair, murmuring as delicately as she could, “Hey, I’ve got you, Sawyer.”

Veronica’s body shook in a sob – the last time Heather had really tried to take care of her she had wound up a dead mass on top of her. Veronica felt crazy. She just – she just didn’t want to deal with any of what was going to happen. She wanted to be a normal _fucking_ teenager. She wanted to go to the Homecoming dance with Heather, she wanted to go to Prom, to celebrate her eighteenth birthday without the ever-looming fear of death. Veronica wanted to be able to go away for college without having people she loved die. Eventually, the crying subsided, leaving the room almost silent aside of a sniffling Veronica.

Heather pressed a kiss to the top of her head, she pulled back slightly and began to wipe at the makeup strewn across Veronica’s face. “Do you want to talk about it?” Heather asked, her voice heavy in her throat as if she were almost on the verge of tears. Once Heather was done fixing her face up, she settled herself back into her arms, resting her head on the shoulder she had been sobbing into. She knew she had to lie to Heather, which wasn’t something she wanted to do but she sighed and spoke, “You know the new kid? JD? He’s been following me.” Heather’s eyebrows furrowed as Veronica continued to speak, “And it’s just – it’s kind of freaking me out – and Kurt being all over me just, God, I don’t know? It kind of wigged me a little.”

Heather thought for a long moment, entirely displeased that JD had been stalking her girlfriend. “We could talk to the cops?” She suggested placing a few more kisses onto the top of her head, “They’d have to do something about it.” Heather sighed, holding Veronica tightly to her, “Right now though? We could leave this poor excuse for a party, go back to my place and watch MTV, look for dresses for the dance?” A moment went by before Veronica simply nodded – she didn’t have _proof_ for the police. That was the issue, he was always just there – always watching, always a step ahead of her.

* * *

Heather settled into the couch next to Veronica, wrapping the blanket back around them and handing her a catalog to start browsing through. Veronica leaned against Heather, feeling bold in her affection considering they were in Chandler’s living room. Idly, she flipped through the magazines scanning the prices and making a face, “There is no way in hell I can get any of these – they’re all like over two hundred dollars.” Heather rolled her eyes and spoke up, “I can get you a dress, Veronica, plus we should match.”

“Match?” Veronica asked lifting her head off of her girlfriend, a little confused. Sure, they were dating but like they just had to go ‘as friends’. It’s not like the school would let them get tickets together let alone go as a couple. “I assumed the most popular couple in school would go together,” Heather stated, her voice unwavering. Veronica shifted a little nervously a short laugh escaping her mouth, “Not to be a Debbie-Downer, but I don’t know if we can get away with that.” Heather held a finger up, leaning forward to grab her purse, finally digging into her bag to unveil her wallet. She unsheathed two tickets from the wallet and held them out to Veronica. Veronica took them carefully studying the tickets for the dance, “How did you get these?” Heather was pleased with herself, a confident smile taking form on her lips as she took the tickets back. “Maybe Heather was running the booth when tickets were being sold,” She explained, “I told her you were being a pussy about wanting to go to the dance so I was going to buy your ticket for you so you’d have to go.”

Veronica laughed, shaking her head a little, “Okay so are we openly going together? Like date-dates?” Heather bit her lip, still clearly on the fence about the prospect of being ‘out’ at Westerburg High School. She offered a nod in response, “If you want to be my official date then, yes.” She looked nervous, which, honestly, was the first time in Veronica’s life she had actually seen Heather Chandler get nervous about anything. She had been this unmoving stalwart enigma in her life, not nervous. “What’s our color pallet then?” Veronica asked, moving back toward Heather and reopening the catalog.

_Dear Diary,_

_Plan #1 – kill JD at the dance_

_Plan #2 – come out at the dance and kill myself_


	6. Coming Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica & Heather go to the dance - actions have consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: period typical homophobia ig?  
> tw: rape MENTION

Veronica was prepped for the dance. Heather had basically chosen her dress for her – they had to match perfectly after all. The dress had a black-velvet bodice and the skirt, naturally, was red. Veronica finished curling her hair, teasing the curls to all new heights, and sighed. She was nervous, and her stomach was in knots. They had to go soon. It was almost time for the dance and she knew they had to motor sooner rather than later or she was going to back out of going out openly as a ‘couple’.

“Babe?” Heather called out from the bathroom, futzing one last time with her makeup, trying to assure she would be the best looking – or second best looking girl at the dance. Veronica was so naturally beautiful that it kind of pissed Heather off but for one night she could allow Veronica to be the prettiest girl at school. She sighed and exited the bathroom as Veronica turned her way and replied kind of amused, “You never call me babe – are you okay?” Heather sighed, trying not to stop moving. She grabbed her lipstick, shoving it down into her cleavage, she grabbed her purse, and slid her heels on. “I’m fine. We just need to get going.” She explained a little frenzied. Veronica stood and placed two hands firmly on Heather’s shoulders to stop her from running, then she spoke softly, “Hey – we’re okay – the world isn’t going to end if we’re five minutes late. We’ll get there and we’ll have a good time, and we’ll dance together, and if people get all shitty we can leave.”

Heather took a sharp breath, accepting the hands on her shoulders, but freezing up very slightly, her mind wandering elsewhere. Attention that was affectionate and positive was altogether new to Heather. From birth she had only ever had nannies come and go to give her real caring affection – bonding with anyone was unfamiliar. Money was how she got the affection from her parents; not hugs, not kisses, no affirmations, not a pat on the back. It took her entire being just to fully commit to a relationship with anyone. It took years for Heather to realize that she was a lesbian due to her attachment issues. She thought it was just a general distaste for people rather than just _men_ as a whole.

The first time Heather Chandler kissed a boy she felt nothing. She was fourteen and the boy had shoved a tongue down her throat. She let it happen. It was just another thing in life she had to do. She had to wake up, dress up, kiss up, toughen up, she had to kiss boys. It was part of the unfair package deal of life. At fifteen she tried to have sex with her then-boyfriend and that’s when it hit her; it hit her like a freight train – she did _not_ like boys. His hands were under her skirt, his lips attacking her neck as she laid back in his car when she began to push back against him, “Stop – stop!” He paused, a sneer on his face, pinning her back down. Then Heather bit and screamed and kicked – in the happy version she gets herself out of the car and back to her house, unscathed. In the real version, however, she can’t get out of the car and gets dumped out of it back at the high school, her clothes in disarray, dried mascara tears caked down her face. She walks home. Her parents don’t ask her where she’s been – they never ask. She doesn’t go to school the rest of that week. She doesn’t tell anyone.

Then, Veronica Sawyer is in her sophomore English class and sits right in front of her. She gets smitten. The god-awful gaudy clothes, the little journal she always seems to be scribbling in, her thick dark hair always catching her eye. Heather wrote love notes – they were all torn up and thrown away. She wasn’t allowed to like women. She erased all the hearts containing ‘HC + VS’ in them because they were too incriminating, if someone had wanted to take her down that’s all the ammunition they needed. She repressed her crush until the perfect opportunity.

“Heather?”

Heather snapped out of the memory, swallowing the lump in her throat and she brought her gaze to Veronica’s, her eyes wide and finally speaking, “I’m fine.” She took a deep breath, trying to breathe life back into herself and pulled herself from Veronica’s hands, “I’m fine – let’s go.” Heather implored rechecking her makeup one last time. The room felt heavy, Veronica knew something was up but it just wasn’t the time to push it with Heather. She seemed more fragile than ever so she shifted her focus – Heather was going to have the best damn Homecoming dance ever.

Heather turns the radio up as loud as possible on the way to the dance – she’s getting back into character. She has to be hard, scary, angry, unwavering, Queen Bitch. She pulls into her parking spot, Veronica getting out of the car and holding the door open for Heather. She quirks a quick smile and speaks, “My lady”. Heather laughs and rolls her eyes, “God, Sawyer – you’re really just a dork.” The couple approached the doors to the gym, Heather reached for Veronica’s hand, speaking quietly, “Are you ready to do this?” Veronica squeezed Heather’s hand while nodding, leading the charge into Westerburg High.

Life goes into slow motion for Veronica. She watches herself hand her ticket to Ms. Fleming at the door, she says something to Veronica about having a safe time – she doesn’t process the words. Her breath is heavy, trying to keep walking, ignoring people turning their heads toward them, the whispers that are being exchanged. Mac and Duke greet them, their eyes ultimately falling to their clasped hands and matching dresses. The silence stretches into infinity, Veronica is unable to keep herself calm and she begins to fidget. Another long moment goes by, all the girls clearly searching for words.

Time snaps back to full speed as Mac begins to speak, “Aw, you guys are each other’s dates! Cute! Why didn’t we do that?” She finished, turning her attention to Duke whose brows shot up immediately. “They’re all coordinated and everything – it’s totally perfect. You guys look awesome!” McNamara cheered, not entirely understanding the full implications of the girls going as each other’s dates. Duke bites her lip, trying to find something positive to say, “You do look good together.” The emphasis on the word ‘together’ doesn’t pass Chandler or Veronica by and Heather squeezes her hand harder.

Veronica finally speaks, putting on an air of false confidence, “Do you guys wanna go dance?” She runs her thumb over Heather’s hand trying to keep her resolve about everything. Mac lights up and nods, grabbing Duke’s hand and starts to drag her off toward the rest of the dancing teens. Heather and Veronica pause for a second, taking their sweet time to walk over to the rest of their clique “How are you holding up?” Veronica asks trying to study her girlfriend’s face. “Honestly?” Heather laughed out temporarily removing her hand from Veronica’s as they worked the rest of their way over to Duke and Mac, “I’m scared of what’s going to happen.”

“Then let’s just dance – we can let loose. That’s what you told me when we were dancing at the party. If anyone tries anything I’ve got you.” Veronica mumbled, trying to encourage Heather. Then they danced, with the other Heathers but more with each other than anything. They kept near-constant eye contact, Heather finally breaking and letting out a laugh over the music, “Sawyer really can’t dance.” Eventually they peeled off to the sides to take a break and they performed a check-in with each other.

“This is going better than I thought it would” Heather admitted, “No one’s said anything.” She rolled her eyes and amended her thought, “Except Heather, but she hasn’t run off to the pressing screaming ‘lesbian’ yet so, it could be safer than anticipated.” Veronica shrugged and nodded in agreement, carefully listening to the music. It had shifted to a slower song, the majority of the floor being couples. A shaky breath pulled its way from her mouth and she stood up straight, rolled her shoulders back, and extended a hand toward Heather. “Do you want to go dance?” Heather stared at the hand – heavily considering the options that laid out before her. Another long moment passed when she finally grasped Veronica’s hand, forcing a smile, “Now or never.”

Mac and Duke turned their attention toward the pair as they moved onto the dance floor. “What are they doing?” McNamara asked, her voice soft, now half-questioning the girls being each other’s ‘dates’. Duke crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, settling onto the bleachers behind her, “They’re _together_.” Mac squinted, looking out into the crowd that also seemed to notice Chandler and Veronica her voice piping up, “Like, together-together?” Duke nodded, a half-smile forming on her lips, “They’re going to get eaten alive.”

Veronica didn’t lead, which given the circumstances, wasn’t surprising. Heather needed the control over the situation. Heather held the small of her back, her hands shaking ever so slightly and held Veronica close. “People are staring,” Heather mumbled, her anxiety rising like pinpricks all over her body. Veronica gave her a smile, her heart kind of swelling, “Okay, yeah, but what can they do to us, we’re just dancing – kinda the whole point of this thing,” She joked, “You know – dancing.” Heather rolled her eyes loosening her death-grip on Veronica releasing a low hum, practically unnoticeable under the music, “Straight girls don’t dance together like this.”

“Good thing we’re not straight girls, right?” Veronica murmured, “You’re my girlfriend, Heather.” Heather shrugged slightly, pulling Veronica closer forcing her to nuzzle into her neck. She was intent on getting fully lost in dancing, she just had to let go if she was going to have a good time – she had to not be in control. The song slowly came to an end, the music being replaced with a more upbeat tune. The girls pulled back from each other, people were still notably staring, and however, the vast majority just went on with dancing. Heather looked around the room, a feeling of freedom overwhelming her feeling of fear. Her eyes came back to land on Veronica’s and a soft smile took over her face, maybe she had fallen in love. It was definitely the first time she had felt something so pure, so good, and so _right._ She put her hands on either side of Veronica’s face and pulled her in for a kiss.

Time froze for the two girls. The world around them fully fading away, an almost storybook cliché about how perfect the moment was. Heather’s arms slid down to rest on Veronica’s shoulders, whose hands now found a gentle hold, one hand on her back, the other on her waist. After a little while they pulled back, Heather immediately rebuilding her walls while expecting the worst – nothing happened immediately. Sure the odd-onlooker had _definitely_ noticed, but did not have the balls to approach Heather Chandler about kissing another girl. Veronica offered a weak smile while retaking Heather’s hands in her own, “Do you wanna ditch this?” Heather let her mouth quirk up into a grin feeling the most free she had ever felt in her life. “I think we can stay.”

* * *

“Can Veronica Sawyer and Heather Chandler please come to the office.” Came a voice out over the speaker. It was second period and they hadn’t bullied anyone for sure, they didn’t skip class – they were in class, and yet they were being called to the office. A boy in the class began to mock “ooh, they’re in trouble”. Heather rolled her eyes, she stood grabbing her French book and the worksheet they had been trudging through, Veronica slid her backpack on and followed behind Heather. Once in the hallway they shot each other a look of concern.

“D’you think this is -?” Veronica asked as she started to chew on her lip. “About the dance? Absolutely.” Heather interrupted absolutely infuriated that they were going to be reprimanded. Veronica held the door to the office open for Heather, her heart now definitely in her throat. They were escorted into the principal’s office by the secretary only to find Ms. Fleming, and both sets of their parents, and the principal sitting in the office. Veronica’s blood ran cold and Heather sucked in a sharp breath as they stepped into the room. The pair froze in the doorway both quickly trying to figure out an escape plan out of the room.

“Miss Chandler, Miss Sawyer, please take a seat.” The principal spoke, mirroring the action by taking a seat at his desk. Veronica sat and thinking she was going to pass out, her vision went spotty, her head starting to spin as she desperately avoided eye contact with her parents. She looked over at Heather who was sitting up straight, one leg crossed over the other, her chest sticking out, a hardened look sitting on her face. Veronica knew Heather was scared, but damn was she doing a good job of hiding it. “Why are we here?” Heather spoke, returning the principal’s stare.

The man took off his glasses and began to rub at his temples. He was exhausted with this whole situation already, very aware of the fight the two girls were about to put up. “Girls, we’ve had…a few complaints,” He began returning his glasses to his face, “About the dance.” The man clarified, hoping that the girls would fill in the rest blanks for him. Veronica knew Heather was going to do the majority of the talking here – she had all the ability to manipulate the staff. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean.” Heather spoke, her tone sickeningly sweet. “Veronica and I just went to the dance, we didn’t do anything differently than anyone else.” She forced her lips to curl into a pout and turned to Veronica, “Right, Veronica?”

Veronica nodded and finally opened her mouth, “Right, we didn’t do anything sir.” The man let out an exasperated sigh holding his head in one of his hands, “Understand I am trying to be sensitive here, but at Westerburg we just can’t support this kind of behavior – you girls went to the dance as a…couple. Then, according to the witnesses, you made a show of kissing at the dance.” The Chandlers visibly tensed, but Heather remained unwavering. He bit his tongue momentarily and continued, “This hurt several people and I’ve had more than ten parents either call my office or barge in here to complain – they wanted to know what I was going to do about…the situation.”

Heather barked out a laugh, brushing her hair out of her face, and crossing her arms. “Let me make sure I’m understanding everything; two people go to the dance together – the same as everyone else – they dance together, and then they kiss – the same as _everyone else_. Yet, we’re the only people that are called to the office?” The principal blanched, he quickly backpedaled attempting to reword himself, “It – well you see Miss Chandler, these students, as stated by Student Council are men and women respectively. At Westerburg High School we just do _not_ support lesbianism.”

Heather stood abruptly, hands settling onto her hips, “So are we going to be disciplined? I don’t think we’ve exactly committed any crimes – certainly not anything worse than everyone who was drunk at the dance, or are we going to ignore that and the underage sex but focus on two girls kissing?” Mr. Chandler moved closer, trying to wrap an arm around Heather, “Sweetheart these accusations aren’t true – we can just sue for defamation and –“ Heather quickly pulled back turning her back toward Veronica and taking a step toward her. “Don’t act like you care.” She spat out at him, holding her hands out in front of her as a defense, “It isn’t an accusation, father _,_ Veronica Sawyer is my girlfriend and I _love_ her.”

The room fell silent at the confession. In any other circumstance, Veronica would have loved to hear Heather saying that she loved her. The principal was silent as well at both set of the parents. Veronica’s mom spoke up, “Honey is this…?” Veronica’s body seized up and she stood almost as abruptly as Heather had, grabbed Heather by the wrist and ran out of the room, the principal called after the two as they ran their way out of the school. They jogged their way to Heather’s car as she fumbled with her keys to start it, cursing aggressively under her breath.

The engine roared to life as they peeled out of the parking lot, Heather breathing heavily as they drove aimlessly. A mile or two down the road, the silence that had been enveloping the girls finally broken by Veronica’s quivering voice, “Um, I just, I wanted to tell you – I love you too.” A hiccupping laugh poured out of Heather’s mouth, tears now starting to flow freely from her. She pulled off into a parking lot behind the city park. The car came chattering to a halt, Heather trying to control the tears that fell irregularly on her face, and she finally spoke, “What are we going to do?” Veronica shrugged, reaching for Heather’s hand, “I don’t know – and um, your parents? Are they like…?”

“They – they didn’t know.” Heather stated. “They don’t know a lot of things about my life.” Veronica went quiet, her heart beginning to ache for Heather. “What about yours?” She asked turning herself fully to Veronica. “We’ve just never talked about anything like this – I mean I don’t think they’re like going to hate me or anything but – “ Veronica sighed, “I don’t know what they’re going to do.”

A ring interrupted the silence – the bulky cellphone Heather had began to erupt. Heather bit her lip and shakily picked up the phone, “Hello?” A familiar voice burst from the other side, “Heather! Where are you guys? Everybody’s saying that you guys ditched and that you’re dating?” Heather McNamara came through as well intentioned as ever. Heather wet her lips and replied, “We are dating. I’ll tell you more later. Can you come to Veronica’s tonight?” McNamara replied, with cheer in her voice, “Okay, I’ll see you guys tonight!” Heather hung up her phone, running a hand through her hair, she was exasperated.

Heather looked up at Veronica, sighing, her eyes tired. “Sorry, I should’ve asked. Can I stay at your house? I don’t think I can go home.” Veronica shook her head, pressing a kiss to her forehead and spoke, “Hey, no – don’t apologize. Just – come home with me okay? You can stay at my house. You have clothes there anyway.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

_Dear Diary,_

_I don’t have words to describe how awful today was. We’re going to have to kiss so much ass._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so the next chapter should like further the plot a little more and might have a return of JD.


	7. Seeing Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Actions have consequences - this timeline is getting too complicated for Veronica and Heather
> 
> tw: f slur  
> cw: homophobia

School had long since come to an end when Veronica and Heather finally admitted defeat and drove over to the Sawyer’s house. They pulled up onto the street to find Veronica’s mom patiently sitting on their front porch. The pair exchanged a look of anxiety and they stepped out of the car – Veronica’s mom stood from her seat and happiness washed over her face as she made a beeline for her daughter. “Oh, honey – we thought you ran away.” Her mother murmured, pulling her in for a tight hug, cradling the back of her daughter’s head.

Veronica let her body collapse into her mother’s arms. She was relieved that her mom actually missed her, a long moment passed and she pulled back. “Mom, can Heather stay with us?” Veronica asked, then looking over her shoulder to see her vaguely shell-shocked girlfriend. Heather quickly moved over to Veronica and explained, “I’m fairly certain I won’t be welcome at my house.” Mrs. Sawyer pursed her lips and extended her arms toward Heather to pull the teen in for a hug, “Heather, honey, you’re welcome at our house whenever – just keep the door open.” Veronica rolled her eyes and groaned, “ _Mom._ ”

They made their way into the house, Veronica lacing her hand with Heather’s. “Dinner should be ready in a little bit girls, I’ll call you down when it’s ready.” Veronica chirped out a quick, “Thanks, mom.” She then proceeded to lead Heather upstairs to her room, pointedly leaving the door cracked open. Veronica laid down on her bed, holding her arms open for Heather. Heather quickly placed herself in her girlfriend’s arms and closed her eyes while asking, “Should I call them?”

“It’d be good to figure out if you’re going to be able to go home,” Veronica replied, running her fingers through Heather’s hair. Heather groaned, hiding her face in Veronica’s chest in protest, “They’ve probably already disowned me. They’re probably burning my clothes and throwing away all my makeup.” Veronica let out a small laugh, “Or, they’re confused and probably haven’t met a gay person that they’ve known about – you’re their daughter. That has to mean something.”

Heather rolled out of Veronica’s arms to lay onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. She blinked, trying to work her way through what to say, “They’re barely my parents. Biologically, yes. Emotionally? No.” She rubbed at her eyes, ultimately frustrated with herself, “They don’t like to be around me – they just know that I’m – I was? Popular. That’s it.” Veronica furrowed her brow at her and questioned, “So they just leave you alone all the time?” Heather offered a shrug, “Now that I’m old enough. When I was younger I had nannies.” A moment passed and Heather let out a bitter chuckle, “You know, they only met Heather and Heather last year on my birthday. I’ve been friends with them since we were five.”

She took in a sharp breath, sitting up, she reached for her phone. “I’m just going to do it.” Carefully she punched in the numbers to her father’s personal phone, repeatedly attempting to swallow the lump that had built up in her throat and hit the call button. The ringing made Heather want to vomit, Veronica offered her a hand, which Heather took into a vice grip, and moved back toward her girlfriend. She all but burst into tears when her Mr. Chandler finally picked up, “Hello?” Heather bit back the tears that were threatening to escape and swallowed once more before replying, “Hey, dad.” She didn’t know what else to say, she didn’t really feel like she had to explain herself for anything that had happened that day. She was a lesbian, she had a girlfriend, and she had gone to the dance with said girlfriend. Easy facts.

“Heather, your mother has been worried sick! Where are you?” he asked a definite exasperation in his voice. “I’m at Veronica’s,” She answered quickly and then bit her lip and continued, “Do you hate me?” Veronica wrapped her arms fully around Heather, sensing her start to get worked up. “Heather, I don’t hate you. I’m shocked, sure, and I don’t really understand it to be quite frank, but that doesn’t mean that I hate you.” Heather breathed out a sigh of relief, that was about as good as getting an ‘I love you’ from her dad as she had ever gotten. “I’m not getting kicked out?” Heather asked just checking one last time. Her dad laughed and replied, “Heather, you took a girl to the dance, which is a little odd, but it’s not like you killed someone – obviously I have questions but for tonight I’ll let your mom know you’re safe. I’ll see you tomorrow and we can have a real discussion about this. Tell the Sawyers I said hello.”

“Bye, dad,” Heather mumbled before shutting the phone and throwing her arms fully around Veronica. Veronica smiled and gave Heather a big squeeze before pulling back, “I’m guessing you’re in the clear?” Heather nodded, a weak smile on her face, “Those are literally the nicest things my father has ever said to me.” Mrs. Sawyer’s voice sounded from the base of the stairs, “Girls! Dinner!” The pair forced themselves up, hands pulling together like magnets and began the walk down the stairs. “Can you play defense for me?” Veronica asked as she hit the last step. Heather kissed her cheek, “I’ll do what I can.”

The girls stepped into the dining room where Veronica’s dad already sat, the girls took seats to parallel to each other as Veronica’s mom filtered in with the food. “That was a real performance you girls put on today!” Mr. Sawyer exclaimed as he loaded his plate up. Veronica, confused, raised a brow and passed her mom the rolls, “What do you mean?” Her dad laughed as he dug into his dinner, “They had been talking about suspending you two, but that Ms. Fleming woman put up a hell of a fight. She said something about not wanting it to be a civil rights case.”

“So…we’re not in trouble?” Veronica asked. “From what I can tell they’re angrier you left school today than about the dance.” Mr. Sawyer answered before taking another bite. Heather nudged Veronica under the table, who immediately turned toward her. She looked a little shocked, but ultimately very happy but she spoke, “At least we’re not suspended.” Mrs. Sawyer, who had stayed silent as she ate finally piped up, “I know it’s a little bit of a change of topic girls but I’ve just been so curious – how long have you two been dating?” Veronica paled and opened her mouth to answer but Heather quickly jumped in for her, “About a month and a half.”

Veronica’s mom smiled, “Oh, I thought it had been so much longer. The way you two act – I felt like I was missing out on part of your life, Veronica. But it hasn’t been that long so I can’t say I’m mad.” Veronica was thoroughly embarrassed, her cheeks turning red. “Thanks, mom.” Her dad, of course, had to jump in as well with a question that made Veronica want to leap out of her skin, “So you’re just gay, huh?” Veronica rubbed her eyes and quickly answered, “I like everybody I guess? It’s just not a big deal if they’re a girl or a guy. Right now…I like Heather.” Veronica continued to try to eat as quickly as possible to get away from her parents.

Dinner had long past, Veronica ultimately the most embarrassed she’s ever been in her life. They laid in her room, snuggled up in pajamas, and trying to work through the rest of the assignment that had been so rudely interrupted for them that day. A ding from the doorbell made Veronica pop up and call out, “I’ll get it!” She made her way to the front door and opened it. A smiling Heather McNamara stood at the door, beaming up at Veronica once the door was opened. “Hi!” She chirped taking a step toward Veronica who had stepped back to let her in. “Hi, Heather,” Veronica said as she began to lead her upstairs to her room. Chandler was lounging on Veronica’s bed, begrudgingly working on homework when Mac and Veronica walked back in.

Mac took a second and pulled Chandler straight into her arms with a big squeezing hug, “Sorry about today.” Heather shook her head, giving her smaller friend a light squeeze back, “All things considered we’re fine.” McNamara grinned as she pulled back from the hug, “It’s pretty _badass_ that you guys skipped the rest of the day.” Veronica laughed, sitting down on the bed, motioning for Mac to sit as well. She quickly abandoned her shoes and sat on the bed, crossing her legs. Almost as soon as Mac sat the words came barreling out of her mouth, “So you’re like girlfriends, right?”

Veronica floundered to answer but Chandler picked up the slack and replied, unable to keep a toothy smile off of her face, “Yes, we’re together.” Mac _grinned_ and clapped her hands together, her entire face just lighting up. “Aw, you guys! How long – how’d you get together? Tell me!” She practically spat out, altogether thrilled for her friends. Veronica was a little surprised about the immense support coming from Mac but went on to answer, “I just kind of asked her to spend the night and watch movies with me, we kissed and then we started dating around a month ago.” Mac listened attentively and then nodded while exclaiming, “Heather, I’m so happy you finally got a girlfriend!”

“Finally?” Heather asked, an eyebrow quirking up. McNamara rolled her eyes, laughing a little, “When have you ever talked about liking a guy?” Chandler’s jaw dropped before a grin pulled up on her face, “You got me.” Mac laughed and continued, “Plus, you’re always checking girls out - super obvious if you ask me.” She shrugged, “I wasn’t always sure, but I mean you’ve been so heart-eyes over Veronica since you saw her, and then you guys kept holding hands and stuff and _then_ the dance made me one-hundred-percent sure!” Chandler sat up straight, shoving her French homework away, her face absolutely furrowed with confusion and awe, “So you know that I’m a lesbian?”

“Duh, you’re my best friend.”

* * *

The girls had spent the night together, attempting to do homework, giving up on doing homework, watching movies, reading magazines, and ultimately ending up in a clump on Veronica’s bed. The girls began to stir for class the next morning, Chandler and Veronica thoroughly dreading having to interact with the faculty and the student body. Heather was the first to stir, pushing her strawberry-blonde hair out of her face only to notice the weight of the other two girls on top of her. Mac was laying on her stomach, tucked into Heather’s chest, a peaceful smile on her face. Veronica was laid on her back, Chandler’s head tucked under her chin and her arms flung up over her head.

Chandler groaned as she attempted to peel herself from the other girls. Mac began to stir as Heather finally reached for Veronica’s alarm to turn it off, “Wha-?” McNamara mumbled as she fully sat up, her blonde curls sticking up in every direction. Chandler smoothed the crazy hairs down and replied, “We have to go to school, Heather, come on.” Veronica rolled over, letting out a strongly displeased sound, “I don’t wanna.” The redhead rolled her eyes and made her way to the light switch turning it on, which earned a yelp from Mac who clapped a hand over her eyes, and a groan from Veronica. “We need to go, Ronnie and I can’t get into any more trouble.”

McNamara yawned a complaint escaping with it, “You guys weren’t like expelled or whatever right?” Veronica shrugged and rolled over while rubbing her eyes, “No idea – I don’t think so – my dad said something about Ms. Fleming saying something for us?” Veronica sighed, remembering how big of a deal Ms. Fleming had made out of the faked suicides and made it about how good of a job they were doing about raising ‘suicide awareness’. Bullshit. She didn’t want them to become a spectacle for the student body to ridicule – she didn’t want to become a target again. She just wanted to survive high school.

Anxiety shot through Veronica like a bullet. _JD._ She had nearly forgotten all about JD. She climbed out of bed and began to frantically search for clothes for both her and Heather. “Oh, neat – I thought she hated us,” Mac mumbled reaching for the bag she had brought from home and trounced off to Veronica’s bathroom to get ready for the day. Heather, sensing Veronica’s distress placed a hand delicately on her shoulder, smoothing her fingers over it and pulling Veronica around to face her, “What’s going on in there?” Heather studied the other girl’s face carefully, her eyes watching for the slightest shift in her girlfriend’s demeanor.

Veronica sighed, dropping her faux confidence and spoke, “Just – JD still.” Heather frowned bringing a hand to her cup the other girl’s face, gently thumbing over her cheek, “I’ll make him leave you alone.” Veronica’s face fell the rest of the way and she shook her head, “I can get rid of him – I just don’t want you to have to like interact with him ever.” She couldn’t stand a timeline where Heather tried to save her again just to be murdered before her very eyes. Heather intervening wasn’t an option; it couldn’t be an option. Heather sucked her lips between her teeth while taking a moment to think, “What can I do then?” The other girl shrugged and stole a quick kiss as she continued to get ready, “Just let me think about it?”

The trio got to school, exiting Heather’s convertible while laughing until they turned to the school. A knot immediately formed in Chandler’s gut, she quickly stopped laughing and swallowed hard. The past 24-hours had been a reprieve from the Demon-Queen persona she had so carefully crafted, but now that it was time to throw the mask back on she grew uncomfortable. Her walls rebuilt in an instant, her face growing hard, her shoulders squaring-off and her voice losing a good portion of its natural cadence. “Heather, we’ll see you in homeroom, we, unfortunately, have to go back to the office.” She spoke, leading the group into the school. Mac gave a wave and a quick reply, “Thanks for the ride – and for letting me stay over last night – I’ll see you guys in a sec!” The smallest Heather trounced off to class, on a mission to see locate Duke.

Veronica found herself the opposite of excited, wishing she had the physical ability to construct a façade as convincing as what her girlfriend had spent years perfecting; instead Veronica found herself pulling into herself and reverting to the dweeb she had been at the beginning of the school year. The combined anxiety she had about JD and the anxiety of being thrown off of the top of the totem pole for being gay loomed over her as she trailed behind the team leader. Students were looking at them but she couldn’t read the looks on their face – were they new looks of judgment or the same looks they had always received as the Alpha Clique of the high school. However, Heather was shooting daggers at nearly every passerby. She was ready to attack the first person that dared to let so much as a syllable of negativity out toward them or their relationship.

Once they finally reached the office, they were called back into principal Gowan’s private office. “Stop slouching,” Heather all but hissed under her breath at Veronica. “We need to look strong.” She explained, her voice softening for the briefest of moments. The principal walked into the room, Ms. Fleming trailing behind a stack of papers cradled in her arms. “Miss Chandler, Miss Sawyer – I’m glad you’ve returned to school today,” He began as he took a seat at his desk. “However, we did not finish our discussion yesterday and I would like to do that – with the help of Ms. Fleming.” The tone of the man’s voice was exhausted, clearly overworked and burdened when it came to the entirety of the situation. “Okay girls, so we’re not going to _punish_ you for being who you are! We’re instead looking to have a campaign of tolerance, to teach the other boys and girls here at Westerburg how to deal with gay thoughts and friends!” Ms. Fleming explained in an animated voice, extending a mimeographed pamphlet with the title ‘ _Gay is A-Okay_!’ splashed across it.

Heather and Veronica immediately turned to look to each other, a shared look of absolute agony resting on their faces. “So is this our punishment?” Heather asked, diverting her attention to the principal. The man blinked, clearly a little confused, “Well, you will have detention for skipping class yesterday,” he explained before he took a pause while looking for the correct phrasing for his next sentence, “I spoke with the school board and they agreed to a proposal Ms. Fleming made about bringing tolerance and understanding to Westerburg.” Heather, who was rather impatient spoke again as she absentmindedly laced a hand with Veronica’s, “So, what does this have to do with us?”

“We were hoping that you could help us present this to the school!” Ms. Fleming exclaimed, clearly ecstatic at the concept. Veronica paled considerably, turning as white as a sheet. “I…don't think I can do that.” She explained as her heart thudded out of her chest. Veronica felt dizzy, she squeezed Heather’s hand to try to calm down, anxiety now running haywire. Heather clearly noticing the shift in Veronica’s behavior began to speak for them as a unit, “I’m sorry, Ms. Fleming, Mr. Gowan - you know what it’s like out there.” She swallowed, her voice softening more than she would like for it to, “To everyone outside this room the fact that we’re dating is up for debate. We don’t want to end that debate by taking a hard stance because the moment someone knows it’s fact we are going to be bullied and harassed until we graduate.”

Fleming cringed a little at the mention of the bullying and spoke up, “You could help indirectly – write a message to the school – anything – we don’t have to put your name on it.” Heather’s face hardened and she shook her head as her voice rebuilt itself, “No, there’s still a chance it could get back to me and I am not spending the rest of my senior year being called a bull-dyke. That is _not_ an option.” Heather let out a quick laugh, “I just wanted to go to the dance, I made a mistake about the kiss being public.” Ms. Fleming’s face fell and she turned to face the other teen, “What about you, Veronica?” Veronica floundered for words, trying to come up with a viable excuse, “I just – I don’t want any more attention than we’re already getting, but I could write something.” Fleming clapped her hands together, her larger-than-life smile returning, “Good! So, we just need you to write something about your feelings about being a homosexual at Westerburg and then we’ll read it to the student body. Feel free to drop it on my desk at any time.”

Veronica still looked uneasy but nodded in confirmation. Heather ran her thumb over her hand and spoke for them again as a pair, “Can we go to class? I don’t think we should be missing any more of our education over a chat.” With that she stood, dragging Veronica with her and they marched off to class, releasing her hand once they were out of the office. They paused by Heather’s locker so she could retrieve her notebooks for class. Heather took a moment entered her combination, releasing a heavy sigh and letting her shoulders drop for a moment, “I’ve really fucked everything up for us, didn’t I?” Veronica’s face leaped up in concern, quick to assuage her concerns, “No, you said it before – you just wanted to do stuff that everyone else does.” She wet her lips as her eyes darted around the hallway to see if anyone was really listening before she dropped her voice, “We kissed. Everybody does that, it’s normal, Heather.”

“You know it’s not the same for us, Sawyer,” Heather stated as she pulled her locker open and was hit with something from inside the locker. The hallway exploded into laughter as Heather and Veronica stood stunned. Coating a good portion of the inside of Heather’s locker as well as the front of Heather was bright red paint. Heather’s hands were held up in front of herself in defense as she looked down at herself. “What the _fuck,_ ” Heather screeched her voice absolutely incredulous.

Veronica quickly moved to the locker, noticing several balloons that were attached to the door and had been split open, clearly being the containers of the paint. Her eyes followed the paint into the locker and she looked at a few pieces of notebook paper the words ‘dyke’, ‘lesbo’, and ‘faggot’ scrawled onto them. A larger note contained threats of varying degrees of violence – rape, murder, beating – which ultimately shook Veronica to her core. She was also covered in the paint at this point and took it upon herself to rip the notes out of Heather’s locker. Heather stormed off to the bathroom, anger skyrocketing, but also attempting to maintain her calm and collected ‘bitch’ attitude. Veronica, however, made a U-Turn and burst back into the office.

The red was already drying on Veronica’s skin and seeping its way into the blue of her skirt when she rushed past the secretary as the first bell rang and slammed the notes down onto principal Gowan’s desk. “Try fostering your ‘tolerance’ and ‘understanding’ with someone else - no one here wants to learn, no one wants to be ‘tolerant’.”Gowan looked flabbergasted – one at Veronica’s now-disheveled appearance and two the content of the notes. The man rubbed at his forehead and his eyebrows shot up, “This – this is a lot to take in Miss Sawyer – where were these?” Veronica removed her stained blazer and replied while gesturing to herself, “Heather Chandler’s locker. Along with all this.” The man hit the intercom on his desk, speaking aloud to the secretary, “Miss Peterson can you please get Ms. Fleming down here.” He let his finger off the buzzer for a minute before clicking it again, “Quickly.”

Veronica ran a hand through her hair and shook her head, “I need to go find Heather – I _so_ don’t have time to deal with this.” Veronica ran back out of the office – nearly colliding with the secretary on her way out and jogged off toward the bathroom when she quite literally ran face first into JD. “Oh great!” She exclaimed as she recovered from the collision. “Just what I need – some trench coat psycho trying to make my day even worse!” JD’s face held a raised brow and a smile that Veronica could only note as ‘weird’. She backed up, moving to make her way past him but he stepped in front of her, “Whoa, whoa, Veronica – where’s the fire?” She dropped the blazer to the ground, her eyes narrowing at him, “Can you just take a _hint_ , Jesus Christ!” He laughed placing his hands out in front of himself in defense speaking as he walked toward Veronica, forcing her to back up, “I don’t do hints, sweetheart, I deal with real-life facts, just like how your little girlfriend is well on her way to losing her throne.” Veronica sucked in a breath her jaw tensing as he continued, “Did you like the little surprise I left for you lovebirds?”

“Fuck you,” Veronica spoke her hands balling up into fists at her sides. “You’re a real creep, you know that? You need to leave her alone.” He laughed, letting his hands drop to his sides, “Can’t do that, darling.” Then, Veronica swung at him. Her balled up fist connected with his jaw, her knee met with his groin and she pushed him to the ground. “Do me a favor and find someone else to stalk.” Quickly, she moved past him as he groaned and cradled himself and continued toward the bathroom.

She slowed once she stepped into the bathroom, noting the red handprint on the outside of one of the doors. “Heather?” Veronica spoke knocking on the outside of the stall, her heart in her throat. A soft sound emitted from the stall that might have been a whimper – Veronica wasn’t sure. “Ronnie?” Heather’s voice came out, almost too quiet to hear. Veronica replied, “Yeah, it’s me.” There was a silence for a moment before the door clicked and shuffled open. Heather pushing the door open, standing up from the toilet she had been using to hide in. Her skirt was smeared with paint, she had tried to use water to rinse out any paint, but all the stained fabric could do was cling to her thighs, mascara blackened her cheeks, her hair disheveled and caked with paint.

A crackle of a laugh made its way from the back of Heather’s throat as she wiped her eyes, “This was my favorite skirt.” Veronica pulled Heather into a hug, clearly giving up on protecting what little social status they had left. Her mouth opened and closed a few times while she let Heather hang limply in her arms. “I know who did it – I – I figured out who did it to you,” Veronica stated her voice failing her a number of times. “JD – he – he’s really obsessive. I – I’m so sorry Heather, I never meant for any of this to happen to you.”

Heather shook with a sob. This had been easily the longest two days of her life; sure she could handle the neglect from her parents or the constant name-calling about being a ‘whore’ and a ‘slut’, but this? This was too personal. Veronica pulled back from her and began to wipe at her eyes in a futile effort to help her maintain her appearance when Heather finally spoke, “I want to go home.” Veronica tucked Heather’s hair back behind her ear and nodded in agreement, “We can go – let’s just – let’s get our stuff and we can just – we can talk to Mr. Gowan and just get the fuck out of here.” The bleary-eyed redhead could only nod in agreement, hesitantly taking Veronica’s hand as they began to move out of the bathroom.

With none of the luck in the world, however, JD entered the bathroom. Veronica tensed in an instant, and rammed straight into him – no time to think – she just had to get Heather out of there. The harassment was bad enough but she wasn’t watching her die again, not like last time. “Run!” Veronica demanded as she fought against JD, who quickly pushed back against her. Heather bolted, the urgency in her girlfriend’s voice fueling her to sprint.

The back of JD’s fist connected with Veronica’s cheekbone causing her to hit the floor. She began to scramble to her feet – trying to calculate his next move. She began to kick, her foot finding home in his gut. He clutched at he stomach and reached to pull at her hair. “You’re never going to have it as good as me, Veronica. It just takes one little word.” She scratched at the hand that was entangled in her hair, trying desperately to yank herself free. “Let me go,” Veronica yelled as she finally turned herself toward him and did something she remarked as crazy – she bit him. He pulled his hands back like he had been burnt and then he finally slammed Veronica, head first into the sink counter. The world paused, a gasp escaping JD, he hadn’t meant to do that.

Veronica tumbled to the ground, landing on her back, her vision growing spotty. She could hear a clattering down the hall, some voices, a fight, a scream, and then she heard her voice being called out from above her. “Ronnie? Veronica? Veronica?” Heather said, shaking her. She was tired, she didn’t have the energy to get up – her eyes opened and shut for a moment when she finally looked at the girl above her. Heather looked frenzied, a new shade of red-coated haphazardly over her face as she spoke, “Stay awake. Look at me – you need to look at me Sawyer, I swear to fucking god.” Veronica lazily made eye contact with Heather, working all-too-hard to focus on her. Her mouth had gone dry and she went to speak, “Hi.” Heather began to cry for what felt like the millionth time that day, her hands moving to Veronica’s head as she tried to cradle it as a voice out in the hall repeated: “It was an accident” over and over again.

Then it all went black.

Veronica awoke to a splitting headache, feeling around her head for the injury when she finally took in her surroundings. An uncomfortably familiar alarm sound was going off next to her. Her eyes shot open and she sat up, her stomach already turning once she was met with the view of her bedroom. Veronica sucked in a breath, forcing herself to look to her bedside table to discover the culprit of the beeping. Her alarm had gone off for school – September 1st, 1989.

_Dear Diary,_

_Am I in Hell?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YEET I'LL TRY TO BALANCE THE SAP AND THE STRAIGHT UP MURDER NEXT TIME LMAO
> 
> but really though thank you guys for reading this far and supporting this story - it means A LOT to me as a hobbyist.


	8. Shell Shocked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica is over it already, a shocking (gasp) secret is revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: gun

Veronica was sick of it. She was laid back in her bed staring blankly at the ceiling as tears collected on either side of her pillow, she didn’t want to deal with doing everything over again. She was having a full-on meltdown. She felt defeated, she had died _twice_. She knew high school could be murder, but nothing like this. She just wanted to get through the year. A play-by-play of the other timeline’s last moments played over and over again in her still pounding head. Heather had to watch her die, which, ultimately, was unfair. Her traumatized girlfriend had to watch her brains leak out onto the linoleum tile of Westerburg.

Now, Heather wouldn’t remember a thing. That’s how this whole song and dance happened. A reset happened and it was their first day of senior year, yay! The Heathers were bitches, she had to protect Martha – Veronica’s eyes narrowed at her next thought – she had to kill JD. It wasn’t a matter of reporting him to the police or getting him suspended or expelled – Veronica Sawyer had to kill JD. It was too personal now for her to just let it slide. In this timeline, he’s just a new student – weird, unafraid of the wraths Westerburg High School had to offer, and a homicidal maniac waiting for his opportunity to break out.

Veronica was going to beat him to the punch.

She got dressed, taking extra care dress herself to the Heathers’ standard, forgoing the outfit the Heathers had labeled as ‘ugly’. Veronica, in addition to her diary and stack of stolen hall passes ensured she had her dad’s old Swiss army knife on her person. She wasn’t going to let JD catch her off-guard again. Quickly, the teen ran downstairs, she was a little early on her schedule and took the time to find her parents, still hanging around the kitchen. There was very little ability to find fear in her body anymore; she had seen it all. Shootings, poisonings, hell even being beaten to death softened any blow that could happen to her at this point.

“Mom, Dad, I like girls,” Veronica spoke, figuring it was better to cut to the chase than let them fall behind on knowing who their daughter was. “I gotta motor to school, but we can talk about it later.” Each respective Sawyer looked thoroughly surprised at their daughter’s confession but she was out the door before they could get a word in with her. 6:45 – the bus was running on time. Veronica climbed on, taking her usual seat, and pulled out her diary and began to write a new entry.

_Dear Diary,_

_If I killed myself do you think I’d just start back over again? Why did all this shit even start in the first place? Do you know how sick I am of being a senior?_

The bus came to a screeching halt – 7:05 – they were at the high school. Veronica quickly marched off, filling herself and the Heather out a hall-pass as she made her way into the bathroom. She fussed with her hair for a moment before setting into the all-too-familiar corner, spacing out as she gazed at the spot where her supposed ‘last-moments’ had just happened. Veronica huffed out a sigh and checked her watch. The Heathers finally made their entry. Veronica kept her head down and began to peruse through her diary, unable to help herself steal glances at Chandler.

She had seen such a different girl than the one that stood in front of her. Heather Chandler was so secretly soft, loving, and warm; not as hard as the façade she put up for all of Sherwood, Ohio to see. She dropped her eyes back down to her diary – she’d have to break through Heather’s shell just to be able to see that side of her again. Duke retched which earned a look of disgust from Veronica, but brought her back to attention – it was almost her time to shine. Ms. Fleming entered the room, immediately berating the Heathers, “Ah, Heather and Heather –“ A pause for Duke to vomit again, “And Heather.”

Fleming placed her hands on her hips and approached the teens, “Perhaps you didn’t hear the bell over all the vomiting. You’re late for class.” Heather Chandler’s face quirked up into a smirk for less than a second, before a pout crossed her lips, “Heather wasn’t feeling well – we were helping her.” The older woman scoffed, “Not without a hall pass you’re not – week’s detention.” Veronica sprang from her spot in the corner of the bathroom, more confident than ever, “Actually, Ms. Fleming all four of us are out on a hall pass, yearbook committee.”

She gingerly took the note from Veronica, tilting her reading glasses down on her nose to inspect it. She glanced back up to Veronica, begrudgingly handing the note back to her, “I see you’re all listed, hurry up an get where you’re going.” The teacher turned on her heel and left the bathroom. A silence hung in the air for a moment as Chandler made her way over to Veronica, snatching the note, a look of absolute awe on her face, “This is an _excellent_ forgery – who are you?” Veronica squared her shoulders off slightly before extending her hand to Heather, “Veronica – Sawyer. I crave a boon.” Chandler uncrossed her arms, hesitantly shaking Veronica’s hand, her lips pursed as she spoke, “What boon?” Veronica shrank slightly under Heather’s gaze as the other two Heathers gathered behind her, “Uh, let me sit at your table at lunch – just once – no talking necessary. If people think you guys tolerate me then they’ll leave me alone.” A laugh erupted from the apex predator and the other Heathers followed as Veronica continued speaking, “Before you say anything I also do report cards, permission slips, and absence notes.”

“What about prescriptions?” Duke asked, a genuine glint in her eye. Chandler rolled her eyes and spoke without looking over her shoulder, “Shut up, Heather.” Duke bit her tongue and grumbled out, “Sorry, Heather.” Chandler circled Veronica, she ran her hands over her clothes, vaguely impressed that a nerd like Veronica had been able to pick out an outfit like that. “For a greasy little nobody, you _do_ have good bone structure.” Chandler thought aloud as she gently grabbed Veronica’s chin and examined her face. Mac quickly jumped in agreeing, Duke, of course, had something negative to say, but fortunately Veronica found herself being absorbed into the Heathers.

That day she sat with the Heathers at lunch and faced a series of invasive questions from the other teens; how much did she weigh, were there any boys that she liked ( _no),_ did she have enough money to buy new clothes to match them? She, although uncomfortable, provided answers to the other three. Three days passed when Duke questioned Veronica’s lack-of stylish clothing when Veronica admitted she didn’t have a lot of things that lived to the ‘Heather’ standard. After school, Chandler _insisted_ on taking her to the mall. Mac had cheerleading practice and Duke had to finish the newspaper up for the big ‘welcome-back issue’. This left Heather Chandler and Veronica Sawyer alone.

Veronica was insanely nervous. It was so early to be alone with Heather, which made her want to crawl out of her skin. They sat in Heather Chandler’s car, idling at a light when Chandler finally spoke up, “You were in my English class sophomore year.” The words came out more as a statement than a question to Veronica but she merely nodded in response, “Uh, yeah, you sat behind me like all year.” Heather’s lips formed a nearly miniscule smile and she continued in an attempt to deflect, “I see you’ve learned how to dress since then, however.” Veronica rose a brown and mumbled, “Thank you…?” Heather laughed as they pulled into the mall’s parking lot and spoke, “It’s a compliment. You look cute, Veronica.”

Veronica’s heart fluttered, which all things considered felt _stupid._ Like yes, that was likely her future girlfriend sitting next to her and slapping her with backhanded compliments, but god what a weak thing to get all love-struck over. Veronica sighed and replied, “So where are we going?” The moment was over when the memory that this wasn’t _her_ Heather washed over her. Her heart was heavy as they climbed out of the car. “Sears is probably the best place to start with _your_ budget,” Heather remarked hands settling onto her hips. Veronica made a face, placing a hand over her heart, “God, Heather vicious much?”

A quick look of worry flashed over Heather’s face before she threw her walls back up, “It’s a starting point – I don’t expect you to be able to replace an entire wardrobe with Calvin Klein.” Heather’s arms hung loosely at her side for a moment before she brought her hands up together to fidget with them and began walking, “I’m not trying to be an asshole here, Sawyer, I just want you to look good with us.” Veronica knew that this was a _classic_ sign of Heather Chandler becoming nervous and she quickly spoke in an attempt to assuage the other girl, “It’s fine – really no big, just think about how you say stuff.” Chandler, still tense, seemed to allow her arms to relax, her fingers now messing with the hem of her skirt, rather than each other.

They entered the mall, the staple of Sherwood, Ohio. Like every day after school, it was _packed_ ; a good portion of the high school just seeming to loiter around the food court rather than the rest of the expansive mall. Sears was, as it always was, boring. Veronica found herself particularly more bored as she trailed behind Heather who was setting garments in her arms for her to try on. Veronica stared off into the distance, trying to ignore the pile of clothing that slowly built in her arms; this was another _fun_ deviation from her original timeline. Heather’s tongue clicked as she searched through the clothing, turning her attention to Veronica, who for all intents and purposes was not paying attention. “Veronica,” Heather said, rolling her eyes to the side. “Sawyer,” Heather spoke again, finally pulling the other girl out of her fugue-state.

“Huh? Sorry.” Veronica mumbled, pulling her eyes up to meet Chandler’s. “Do you want to go try all of this on?” Heather asked, grabbing half of the clothing in Veronica’s arms, noting that she was beginning to struggle to carry it all. Veronica nodded and moved over to the changing rooms and quickly got to work. She tried on several of the outfits, stepping out of the room to give a quick pose, which gained a few laughs from Heather, but ultimately to gain her approval as well. Like most other things that happened in Veronica’s life, a problem occurred – she got stuck in one of the shirts.

A long moment of soft struggling passed, trying not to embarrass herself the first fucking time she hung out with Heather. Her arms were trapped over her head, the shirt draped over her face as she spoke in a soft pleading voice, “Heather – um – can –I’m stuck – can you – if you could get me out of this I would be _super_ grateful.” A laugh came from the other side of the dressing room door and Heather replied, “I’m coming in.” Veronica scrambled backward, toward what she _assumed_ was away from the door but smacked herself into it as Heather stepped in the room. Heather grabbed her by the waist to steady her, a laugh escaping as she spoke, “Just stay still.” A moment or two passed of some gentle tugging as Heather freed Veronica, a goofy grin stuck on her face. Veronica sighed as she was finally able to let her arms drop, “Thank god, thank you.” Heather’s eyes quickly dipped from Veronica’s down to her chest – she quickly caught herself – forcing her eyes back up toward Veronica’s and she shrugged and replied, “Unless you want me pulling that off of you every time you wear it, I think it would be wise to not get that shirt.”

The subtext dripping off of Heather’s words didn’t surpass Veronica, her jaw opening and closing a few times when she finally worked up a proper response, “If you’re a willing participant then I’ll get it - it’s a cute shirt.” Heather let out a snort, rolling her eyes, “You are ridiculous.” Veronica shrugged as she pulled her own shirt back on and gave a retort, “It’s cute!” Veronica quickly thrust the clothes that they had decided on into Heather’s arms and continued, “I’m getting it even if it’s the only shirt I can get.”

Heather followed her out of the changing room, her hands very alive with the lingering feeling of Veronica’s fingers brushing over her own and spoke quickly, “I’m getting these for you – think of it as a welcoming gift for you.” Veronica swore she was delirious – she had been formally a Heather for all of four days and Chandler herself was willing to dip into her allowance for Veronica. That was an _enormous_ gesture from Heather. “Are you sure?” Veronica said, the words hurrying out of her mouth. Heather Chandler rolled her eyes for what felt like the millionth time that that day and exclaimed, “Veronica, it’s my dad’s money, let me spend it.” The other girl found herself defeated and threw her hands up as began to gripe, “Fine, I guess.” Heather grinned.

* * *

Veronica confronted JD. The new clothes, new clique, and new attitude was exactly what she needed to find her confidence - that’s what she tried to tell herself at the very least. He had started following her to classes a few weeks into school starting back up and she was instantly sick of it. She approached him after Journalism, pleading with Duke just to wait for her for a few minutes. “Can you stop following me around?” Veronica asked, her voice quality the auditory representation of watching paint dry. JD looked shocked as Veronica rushed him, he hadn’t realized she had noticed him acting as her shadow. “So you caught me.” He stated with a small grin, hands burying themselves into the pockets of his trench coat.

“It’s not funny,” Veronica deadpanned, her brows furrowed. “I’m a real person – hello – stalking is both illegal and not attractive.” She slid her hand into her pocket, gripping at the knife while trying to judge the safety of the situation she was in. JD didn’t seem unhinged yet; he just seemed like a creepy high school boy with an obsession-like crush. “So can you just leave me alone? I’m not interested in you or whatever it is you want me to be into. You’re not my type, JD.” Veronica stated, her voice holding not even an ounce of remorse. This was a demand, rather than a request.

Naturally, JD misread the social cue altogether and laughed, “Okay, but how do you know if you’re not into me if you don’t give me a chance?” Veronica’s eyes all but rolled directly out of her skull and she took a step back, removing her hands from her pockets and crossing her arms, “I’m seeing someone else and I know what I like and it’s not quite the bad-boy type.” She let out a little laugh at the end of her sentence – her type had _totally_ been the tall-dark-mysterious bad boy but after being JD she wasn’t sure if she would be able to date anyone edgier than Heather Chandler ever again.

“You have a boyfriend?” JD asked as Veronica turned her heel, clearly ignoring him and waltzed off to catch up with Duke so they could get to their next class. Once she made her way back to Duke she quickly scrawled them each out a hall pass and sighed in relief, “Thanks, Heather.” The smaller girl eyed her suspiciously and then spoke rather bluntly, “So do you do charity work a lot or do you just like talking to freaks like that?” Veronica huffed, handing Duke her hall pass, “He’s just some creep that’s been up my ass – he shouldn’t be a big deal.” Taking the hall pass Duke raised her brows and spoke, “So are you like, okay or whatever? I have to get to Lit.”

A sly smile slid across Veronica’s face and she laughed, “Heather, are you telling me you actually care about me?” A blush bloomed across Heather’s features and she snapped back, “You’re one of us, I have to look out for you.” Veronica stopped in front of the cafeteria and gestured toward the room, “Well thanks for looking out for me, I’ll see you after school.” Duke offered a wave and marched off toward class, clearly on a mission.

Veronica bit her lip and moved into the cafeteria to see Heather Chandler waiting for her. Heather motioned for her to hurry and Veronica complied, still trying to win Heather’s approval. “What’s the what?” Veronica asked, sliding her backpack to her feet and sitting next to Heather. A mesmerizing smile lit Heather’s face and Veronica went a little breathless, waiting for Heather to speak.

They had been flirting for the past week; it wasn’t explicitly flirting but it had certainly left the two giddy. Veronica had bought that shirt and honestly, it was a pain in the ass to get it off of her. She and the other Heathers had spent the night at Chandler’s house and Veronica had gone to the bathroom to change and spent around far too long trying to get the shirt off when there was a knock on the door. “Veronica?” Veronica stood up straight and clenched her jaw and called out, thoroughly defeated, “I’m stuck again.”

Heather opened the door and shut it behind her as she stepped in and caught a glance of Veronica’s eyes barely peeking out from behind the slightly too-tight fabric. “Help” She pleaded, her voice weak and a small laugh stuck in her throat. Heather mirrored her laugh and began to yank the shirt up and commanded, “Keep your arms straight.” Veronica immediately obeyed and straightened her arms up as Heather finally got it off of her. Heather held a smile on her face as she handed the shirt back to Veronica and began to fuss over the other girl’s hair. “You’re a mess.” She stated, hovering behind Veronica, ending up behind her and running her fingers through her hair. “Hey, listen, I told you that you were going to have to rip it off of me,” Veronica said, leaning back into Heather, feeling entirely too comfortable with Heather holding onto her.

“You sound excited about that,” Heather mused as she began to idly play with Veronica’s hair, neatly separating it into two sections and beginning to braid it. Veronica stuttered out a few protests as she watched Heather work through her hair from the mirror, “I’m not – I was just saying that you’d have to – do that.” Heather kept stony, occasionally stealing a few glances at Veronica and namely Veronica’s scantily clad chest. She wet her lips averting her focus from gazing Veronica over and spoke while she moved onto the other braid, “You’re beautiful.”

Veronica laughed fully relaxing next to Heather, “Me?” This was getting closer to how _her_ Heather had been. More gentle, softer, and a brazen romantic. “Do you see another person in this room?” Heather asked, finishing wrapping the hair-tie around the other braid. “There – get dressed – if you can do that by yourself.” She continued as she let herself out of the room.

They had graduated to hand holding on occasion, hugging, and then actual flirting. Which is where they found themselves now; shoulders gently brushing each other, breathy laughs and rosy cheeks. “Do you want to skip the rest of the day?” Heather asked, her hand gently taking one of Veronica’s hands and idly messing with her fingers. Veronica rose a brow asking without a beat, “To do what?” Heather hummed in the back of her throat trying to come up with a reason that would appeal to Veronica before giving up and offering a shrug, “I don’t want to be here and I have booze at my house.”

Veronica reluctantly pulled her hands from Heather to pull out her sheet of faulty absence notes and began to write something down about appointments for both of them. Heather looked thrilled, grabbed Veronica by the wrist and walked them out of study hall, flashing the notes quickly to the class monitor and quickly dropped them off at the office and signed themselves out of school for the day. The ride to Heather’s house was just full of belting the latest and greatest pop hits on the radio, laughing as they stepped into Heather’s house, ignoring the strong fact her parents could be home.

Veronica was always astonished at the sheer size of the Chandler residence. Every time she went she found her jaw slack for a moment until Heather would pull her out of it. They got themselves settled into Heather’s room, putting the TV on as background noise. “Oh, Heather guess what?” Veronica spoke suddenly, “I told the trench coat kid to back off. He didn’t seem into it but I told him I was dating someone and he seemed to get the hint then.” Heather’s eyes flickered almost nervously over to Veronica, the words falling anxiously out of her mouth, “Are you dating anyone?”

The air hung heavy for a moment as Veronica thought carefully until she finally diffused the situation, “Technically? No.” The glimmer returned to Heather’s eyes and she lounged back onto her bed and she retorted, “Technically?” Veronica shrugged as she lay next to Heather and stared up at the ceiling and began to backpedal slightly, “I mean, no one has officially asked me out so no.”

A comfortable silence fell over the two as they adjusted to relaxing into Heather’s bed. “We should play a game.” Heather declared, forcing herself to sit up as she grabbed a beer from her side table, looking down at Veronica. “Okay, like what?” Veronica asked, smiling up at the girl next to her. “Truth or dare?” Heather asked, nervously gauging Veronica’s response, masking it by taking a sip. Veronica moved to sit up, bringing her legs up into a crossed position and facing Chandler squarely, “Alright – um you go first though, I have to think.” Veronica mumbled biting her lip.

“Well then, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

Veronica felt a little chicken – she knew how most games of truth or dare were inherently intimate in nature and didn’t find herself willing to go that last inch where Heather wanted her. Heather knew she was going to break through and get Veronica to admit _something_ about the very clear attraction that they shared. “Is this hypothetical significant other a real person or just a beard to get that fucking kid to leave you alone?”

Veronica bit her lip, fingers gently drumming on her knees, and answered in one breath, “It’s a potential someone – so a real person.” Veronica looked down to her lap and murmured, “Truth or dare?” Heather studied the other girl for a moment, humming another thought and replied, “Truth – it only seems fair.” Veronica looked back up, attempting to sound as nonchalant as possible, “Are you like, into anyone right now?” Heather attempted to play coy and kept her answer as short as possible without giving too much away, “Yeah, I am.” Heather’s eyes boldly locked with Veronica as she continued on, “Truth or dare?”

“Um, dare. Let’s shake it up a little.” Veronica declared, almost thoroughly regretting the words as they poured out of her mouth. Heather got an almost wicked smile on her face and she spoke carefully, “I dare you to kiss me.” Half relieved, half anxious as all hell Veronica gave a short curt nod and moved closer to Heather. She brought her hands to rest on Heather’s hips, making quick eye contact to check in to see if it was okay. They held each other’s gaze for what felt like centuries until Veronica let out a shaky breath and pulled forward, gently brushing their lips together.

Heather immediately kissed back – it wasn’t hard, however – she simply smiled into the kiss and brought her hands up to hold Veronica’s face. Feeling the smile, Veronica in turn smile into the kiss, causing the two to pull back and a series of giggles to fill the room. Heather was flushed, her red lipstick slightly skewed, and a giant breathless smile stuck on her face when she finally spoke, “You’re good at that.” Veronica let out another laugh her eyes darting between Heather’s eyes and her lips and before she could say another thing she kissed Heather again.

The way that they simply just fit together was enough for Veronica to know that was just what she had to do – regardless of the timeline, regardless of what tortures they could face as a couple – she knew she had to be with Heather. It was the only consistent thing that she found could make her feel connected in this hell-scape of a life she was currently going through. They hadn’t done anything more adventurous than kissing that – in the past, Veronica had learned that Heather, although a very sexual being, liked to take things slow. In the other timeline she had opened up to her about what the other parties were like for her; the blowjobs to keep up appearances, the making out with boys to try to prove to herself she was straight.

The two had fallen asleep (accidentally) after stealing several more kisses from each other. Veronica lazily opened her eyes, to find an already awake Heather Chandler softly watching her sleep. Heather gave a quick smile, turning a little red, “Sorry.” She spoke, bringing a hand to rest on Veronica’s hip. Veronica laughed and mumbled, fully allowing herself to snuggle into the blushing girl in front of her, “Good morning.” Heather pulled her closer and pressed a quick hesitant kiss to the top of her head, and laughed, “It’s only six.”

“Don’t we have to meet Heather and Heather?” Veronica groaned as she forced herself to sit up and pulled on her blazer. She hated the obligation of hanging out, she hated the prospect of having to leave the serenity and safety of Heather’s house – out there anything could happen to them. Heather could die, she could die, and they could be bullied until they were able to get out of high school, out of Sherwood. She sighed as she finished the buttons on the jacket when they heard the soft sound of glass shattering somewhere in the house causing Heather and Veronica’s heads to whip toward each other. A feeling of anxiety pooled into Veronica’s stomach when she moved quickly toward Heather and whispered, “We need to hide, we have to hide.” Heather’s eyebrows rose up and she spoke, “What do you mean? Why? Veronica, what’s going on?”

Veronica swallowed hard, trying to give the fastest answer she could give, “I think it’s JD. Just – can you hide? Please – I just – I’ve been reliving this over again and again and I just don’t want him to hurt you.” Her voice grew hoarse toward the end of her sentence. At the beginning of all of this she was just worried about JD killing people, no one specific, sure Heather was her friend at that point, but now it was personal. Veronica Sawyer was heavily aware that she could and possibly would die again for Heather, but that was a risk she was willing to take. Heather stood and tightened her scrunchie and made her way for the hallway, “Follow me.”

The Demon Queen was in full swing, she had a contingency plan for all of this - it wasn’t a good one, but it was a plan. She grabbed Veronica by the hand and drug her out into the hallway, carefully passing by the stairs, casting a few side-glances around, they didn’t know where he was and they had to be careful. A creak was heard on the bottom step and Veronica froze up, she was always caught off-guard by this _stupid dense-ass_ motherfucker. Heather kept on moving, motioning for her to turn down another corridor and down another flight of stairs.

Heather rarely if ever took this spare staircase, but it led to the kitchen which meant they only had to go another room over to the backdoor, which was a sure-fire way to get them out of the house and away from whatever intruder was in her house. The stairs behind them creaked in rapid succession, proving that someone indeed had broken into her house. They made their way to the kitchen when a sing-song voice rang out from up the stairs, “I know you’re here! Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

Veronica felt crazed as they made it to the bottom of the stairs, they moved as silently as they could out of the kitchen when the steps came thundering down the stairs behind them. Communication is difficult in times of stress – Heather and Veronica _scattered_. Heather ran into the living room, and Veronica threw herself into the pantry. Okay, Veronica knew it wasn’t the best place to hide but she was desperate. She had a plan to jump JD.

He revealed himself walking down the stairs and sighed, “Veronica I just want to talk – I’m not here to hurt you.” Which, of course, was a bold fucking lie. Veronica noted the gun sitting in the back of his waistband. Veronica undid her blazer, not wanting it to get in the way during the fight she knew she was going to have to get it. Veronica laughed a little to herself, she should maybe practice fighting if she is ever going to win against JD. Gently setting the jacket onto the ground she glanced around the pantry, looking for the closest thing to a weapon she could find. Settling on a broom that was sitting up against the wall she snagged it and squared up as she was behind JD and swung.

He stumbled forward, catching himself on a counter, and spun around. JD pulled the gun out of his waistband and brandished it at Veronica and they came to a standoff as Veronica squared back up with the broom. “What is going to happen here, JD?” Veronica asked stiffening up. JD cocked the gun and aimed for the girl in front of him, “Well what do you think – we’ve done this so many times, darling.” Veronica’s brows shot up, her heart catching in her throat as forced a reply out, “What do you mean? Do – you – you’ve done this before?”

JD laughed, a crazed grin plastered on his face, “You really don’t think you’re the only one screening reruns, do you?” Veronica's eyes flickered towards his in fear and she spoke with utmost clarity, “You don’t have to do this – you know I’ll just come back again.” He snickered, growing more menacing as the moment went on, “Then just give up, Veronica. We’re meant to be together, when are you going to accept that? Those wannabe Barbie dolls aren’t going to save you.” He took another step closer to Veronica and said, “Where’s your girlfriend? Did she leave? It’s so sad how Heather Chandler just left you to die!”

“Hey, jackass.”

The voice caused JD to spin around in surprise. It was the Demon Queen, Heather Chandler. She entered the room, brandishing her father’s shotgun and fired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heather Chandler is a shotgun lesbian, not a sword lesbian
> 
> I hope you guys liked the chapter and the lil twist at the end!!! <3


	9. Groundhog Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: d slur  
> cw: period typical homophobia  
> BIG TW: Suicide  
> TW: Suicidal ideation

Veronica’s ears rang; she had fallen backwards when Heather shot. JD had landed on top of her, groaning as he clutched at his gut – he knew he wasn’t long for this timeline, or this world for that matter. The recoil had knocked Heather backward, she had never shot a gun before, let alone something with that much knockback. She had dropped the shotgun clutching at her shoulder, which had been knocked out of its socket and she was the first to speak, “Are you okay?”

Veronica crawled out from under JD’s withering form, now thoroughly coated in blood; still in absolute shock that Heather had shot him. She took a breath to reply and then crumpled, the shot had been a little too close. Veronica had been hit too. Heather rushed to her, now fully aware that some of the blood Veronica was covered in was her own. Heather’s eyes went wide as she began to panic – she quickly yanked the phone off the wall and dialed 911, panicking over the phone to the operator as she gave her address. She grabbed a loose dishtowel and pressed it against Veronica’s stomach and mumbled on repeat, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Veronica shook her head and replied, “No, I’m fine, it just kind of hurts – how long did they say that they were going to be?” Heather swallowed, clearly trying to keep her shock under control, “Ten minutes – so not long – you should be okay.”

Veronica bit her lip, wincing at the contact of the towel and spoke, “On the off-chance I bleed out in your kitchen I just wanted to tell you that, um, I really like you – like full confirmation that I have a stupid crush on you.” Heather let out a choked laugh, tears beginning to crowd her eyes, “Good thing you’re going to be just fine. We haven’t even been on a date, Sawyer.” Veronica held a bloodied hand to Heather’s face, trying to soothe the girl in front of her, “I’m okay – I promise I’m okay.” Heather sighed, breathing out a shaky hot breath, her popped out arm, now dangling limply at her side. They sat in silence, unsure what to say, each trying to support each other as Veronica paled.

What they had presumed was JD’s dead body, forced it up onto hands and knees. “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Veronica mumbled, pushing Heather aside as quickly as she could. Her body truly feeling like it had turned inside out, she moved toward JD, determined just to end all this shit for the last time, and pushed him over unto his back. He let out a grunt, truly clinging to his last legs and reached for the shotgun that laid nearby on the floor. Heather then intervened with her good arm, grabbing the top of the gun, and trying to wrestle it from JD, “Drop dead, psycho!” He let go, sending Chandler tumbling backward with the unexpected release; Veronica gripped at the knife in her pocket and went for the stab. It was superficial if anything – the blade simply getting caught in his skin due to the lack of force behind it.

JD yanked the knife out, clinging to the shoulder it had stabbed through and then returned the strike as Veronica attempted to get away by jamming it into the back of her neck. Veronica dropped nearly instantly and blacked out.

_Dear Diary,_

_I’m in purgatory._

Veronica bolted up, feeling herself all over searching for bandages, for cuts, for _something_. It had started over again – her brain now tuning into the blaring of her alarm. She sprang from her bed and began to disrupt the tranquility of her room. Not even bothering to silence the alarm Veronica ripped it from her nightstand and chucked it against the wall, a frustrated scream erupting from her throat. She was so _fucking sick of this_. Veronica was so tired; her body ached with the memory of the other life’s last moments.

Now she had to do her first day of school again and she knew that JD would be waiting for her. He was doing the exact same rewind that she was – trapped in the near-endless loop. Fed up with the whole situation she didn’t want to give him the power, she just wanted to wake up and have everything be back to how it was. Even if that meant she didn’t have Heather anymore. The thought paused Veronica’s heart in her chest as she dove back into her bed. None of this was fair! Wasn’t life supposed to work out if it was a do-over? Didn’t good prevail over evil and all that other crap?

Veronica took to testing her theory; she was going to kill herself. The two options lay out before her – either she’d die for real _or_ she’d just be thrown into yet another timeline with yet another JD. Veronica opened the window to her bedroom considering her options – fuck it why not try it – it wasn’t like she had anything else to lose. So she jumped.

_Dear Diary,_

_Today I killed myself._

Veronica sat up straight again in bed, she had lived, and she ran herself to the bathroom – downing a bottle of opioids leftover from when she had gotten her wisdom teeth out. She made it down stairs to breakfast when –

_Dear Diary,_

_I’m never going to win._

Veronica Sawyer, for the sixth time, restarted her senior year. For the seventh time, she died after slashing her wrists. No suicide note.

_Dear Diary,_

_I –_

Veronica woke up slowly this time, her body unable to catch up with the rapid succession of her deaths. Slowly she slammed a hand on the alarm clock she had now grown to fully loathe. She groaned, bringing her hands up to rub at her already tear filled eyes. She didn’t have the energy to cry. She didn’t have anything left in her. JD was going to win no matter what. So, fuck it, she made her way downstairs and confronted her parents, an uneven tone. “Mom, dad, I’m gay.” She spoke; trying to work the same resolve she had had several timelines ago.

Her mother threw herself around Veronica, murmuring praises and assurances about how she’d still love her – just to be safe. Same old mom. Her dad ruffled her hair, and gave a quick squeeze around the shoulders as they sent her off to school. Same old dad. The bus ride itself was thoroughly uneventful, the same dull conversations she had now heard a handful of times turned into an inner-script she would run through to check the status quo of things. Two nerds arguing about Star Trek, someone talking about their dad getting them a brand new Porsche but not being allowed to drive it to school. The same old conversations.

Veronica arrived at her least favorite form of hell – Westerburg High School. A habit that she already formed was walking straight to the bathroom where she knew she would find the Heathers and infiltrate their clique. It was as if she was on autopilot; she wrote the note, she prepared her begging to entice the Heathers into being her friend, and she waited for Fleming. The trio shortly appeared, Duke straight for the stalls, Mac adding yet another layer of lip-gloss on – but this time Heather was already looking at her. Veronica glanced up at Heather for a moment – why was she already interested in her? This had never happened before. Ever.

They held eye contact for the longest moment, before Heather broke it, nervously working to fix her makeup. Ms. Fleming entered, hands balled into fists on her hips and spoke, “Ah, Heather and Heater,” Duke retched. “And Heather – perhaps you didn’t hear the bell over all the vomiting, you’re late for class.” Heather spoke, this time the words shifting differently, “We’re out on a hall pass.” Veronica’s eyebrows might as well have shot off of her face as she walked over to the group and handed the pass over, “Uh, yeah, yearbook committee.” Fleming eyed Chandler and Veronica suspiciously but ultimately, handed the pass back while speaking, “Just get where you’re going.”

Mac was the first to break the almost too-heavy silence, “You know her?” Chandler was fixed on Veronica, eyes pleading with her to see if she remembered anything, and replied, “She was in my English class sophomore year – and French last year.” Duke emerged from the toilets, wiping at her mouth and spoke, “Can you do more than hall-passes?” Veronica wanted to drag Chandler away from the other two – to just be able to talk to her – to see what the hell she remembered but just replied to Duke, “Absence notes, report cards, permission slips.” Duke nodded thoughtfully and replied, “What about prescriptions.” Heather Chandler quickly spoke, “Shut up, Heather.” Duke grumbled out an apology.

Chandler made a decision for the group, still desperately searching Veronica for any sign of memory, “Veronica you’re going to sit with us today.” Heather continued and spoke, “Heather, I need your brush, some blush and Heather go get the blue blazer out of my car.” She handed her keys over to Duke and shooed Mac off to her locker, just attempting to get a second alone with Veronica. The other Heathers looked astonished that Chandler had allowed some random nobody into their clique but snapped right to the orders she had given them.

A beat passed after the bathroom door closed behind the two and Heather threw her arms around Veronica. Veronica quickly hugged back, almost squeezing the life out of the girl in her arms. Heather buried her head into Veronica’s shoulder an uncharacteristically weak voice speaking, “I thought you were _dead -_ I thought I was dead!” The tears Veronica had been too weak to let release earlier came streaming out as she pulled away from Heather to look at her, “What – what was the last thing you remember happening?”

Heather’s eyes dropped to the floor, clearly feeling fully uneasy about this entire situation. She swallowed hard and finally summoned the words from her mouth, “Which time?” Heather asked, shooting anxiety through Veronica, “You’ve done it more than once?” Chandler offered a short sigh, trying to build her confidence back up, “The first one he stabbed you at my house and then,” Heather had to pause to suck in a sharp breath, “I remember he shot me. The next one I remember we went to the dance together, you said JD set something up in my locker with the paint, and he killed you in here and then everyone figured out we were – we had been dating and it spiraled.” Letting out a quick laugh Heather continued, “It was okay for awhile – Heather and Heather tried really hard to stick up for me. I just couldn’t take it anymore though so I –“ She mimed a cut to her throat and ran her teeth through her lips. “Now I’m back here.”

Veronica’s body language dropped – Heather had killed herself – this left her almost speechless. “I’m so sorry, Heather,” Veronica mumbled, her heart beginning to ache. McNamara reentering the bathroom with her brush while cheering cut their moment of reconnection short, “I’m back!” The girls quickly separated and Heather’s face-hardened again as she took the brush from Mac. She grabbed Veronica by the shoulders, turning her around and then began to brush through her hair. Duke came in a minute later with the outfit Heather had specified. A little bit of lipstick and some blush later and Veronica was now, yet again, a Heather.

The day went on, both girls anxiously looking forward to study hall – when they’d finally be able just to sit and talk to each other. Time came for study hall when Heather linked her arm with Veronica’s and drug her to the library, sliding into the AV closet. With the door shut behind them Heather pulled Veronica into another bone-crushingly tight hug. “Do you know how much I missed you?” Heather mumbled, pulling back before she finally asked, “What happened to you.” Veronica kept her hands delicately holding Heather’s, almost desperate for the variety of kindness and affection she knew she could get from this Heather. “Kind of reverse order, uh, I can give the cliff notes I guess, I’ve died a lot.” Veronica started, “You died once and this whole thing started like the end of senior year for me I guess.” She gave Heather’s hand a quick squeeze and spoke, “JD shot you and me in a haunted house, so um, not fun – then we went to the dance and I don’t remember how I died that time, but then you shot him that other time at your house.” Veronica bit back her tongue, not wanting to bring the addition of her several suicide attempts into the mix.

Heather’s brow furrowed and she spoke, “What is this?” Veronica offered a shrug I don’t know, I’ve landed on hell as the best guess.” Heather let out a small laugh, letting silence fall between them as she delicately studied Veronica’s face, tucking some of the brunette’s hair behind her ear. Heather bit her lip taking another long moment to look at Veronica and sighed, “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve seen you?” Veronica spoke softly in return, her voice catching itself in her throat, “No.” Heather carefully spoke, trying not to allow her emotions to get the best of her, “Seven months – and there was a funeral but that didn’t count. I couldn’t talk to you.” Veronica felt like she could cry at any moment and knew she needed to be wary and attentive to everything around them. However, her emotions took precedence and she took the plunge for both of them and pulled Heather into a kiss.

Heather melted into the kiss, wrapping her arms back around Veronica; terrified to let go on the off chance she would disappear. Veronica was all-too relieved to have _her_ Heather fully back. October was the furthest she had made it in the timeline and it made her sick that Heather had to make it that long with getting bullied like that after watching her die. Veronica pressed a few more urgent kisses to Heather’s lips, pulling back between each as the words stumbled out of her mouth, “I’m – so – sorry – I – love – you.” A shred of anxiety and joy lit in Heather who brought her head to rest on Veronica’s shoulder, thoroughly drained at the entire concept of making her way through the rest of the year. “Love you,” She mumbled, trying to work through the entirety of the emotional trauma she found herself dealing with.

“We have to get rid of JD.” Veronica stated, cradling the girl in her arms. “Before he finds us we have to find him – we have to make a plan.” Heather allowed herself to be vulnerable and replied, “Or we could call the cops? We can say he’s making death threats against us or whatever and you could fake his handwriting – get him arrested at least.” Veronica sighed pulling away from Heather, “I don’t know if that’ll work – I mean shit Heather, he’ll get out of it – he keeps getting out of it.” Chandler straightened up, wiping at her eyes, trying not to smear her mascara. “He got arrested after he killed you,” Heather stated her mind falling back into the memory of watching Veronica bleed out on the floor.

Heather had run out of the bathroom when Veronica told her to – making her way to the principal’s office all but screaming for help. She drug them back toward the bathroom where JD stood over Veronica, the principal and a few other staff members that had gathered tackled him to the ground while Heather pushed past them. There she saw a sickly pool of red surrounding her head and she went to her knees almost immediately, an almost strangled scream escaping from her mouth. She shook Veronica whose eyes were now fluttering open and closed, “Ronnie? Veronica? _Veronica?_ ” Veronica had weakly looked up at her after a full minute of struggling to open her eyes. Heather had brought her hands up to her face to try to collect herself and to breathe when she spoke again, attempting to clean the blood up, “Stay awake. Look at me – you need to look at me Sawyer, I swear to fucking god.” A slurred ‘hi’ was the last thing she heard from Veronica before she bled out in front of her.

They pronounced Veronica dead on the scene. Heather was in shock as the paramedics tried to talk to her, trying to discern if JD had injured her or if it was Veronica’s blood coating her. It took a full hour to coax her off of the bathroom floor, but she had gone mute. Her parents came and collected her, tears still pouring from her eyes during the entirety of the silent car-ride. “Goodnight.” Heather was the first thing she had said to anyone in hours and she went upstairs climbing into the shower and staying there for close to four hours peeling the paint and blood off of herself.

The funeral came and for the first month people took it easy on Heather, which she found shocking considering it was Westerburg High School. In addition to school she also had to testify against the murderer himself, JD. She was quieter, more anxious, and several degrees more depressed. Her appearance was the only thing put together about her – she only had that left reputation wise. Mac and Duke took time to check in with her but for the most part, Heather was functioning horribly. Teachers pitied her, often allowing her to slack off during class, refusing to chastise her for her mind travelling elsewhere. The student body as a whole still whispered about her, often shooting looks in her direction but as a whole avoiding her.

Kurt Kelly of all people disturbed the peace she had; he had pushed Heather down when walking in between classes. When she got up, expecting an apology she got another shove as he laughed in her face, “Watch where you’re going _lezbo._ ” Heather had no rebuttal, nothing; she was just prepared to be left alone for the rest of her life. This, however, signed a changing of the tides. Within a day it seemed as if news that it was okay to harass Heather now had spread and she found herself without a second of reprieve. People threw things at her, a JV jock attempted to pin her to a locker and kiss her, Kurt pushed her over again, and Ram threatened her. Mac and Duke attempted to keep the peace for Heather, Duke threatening to air everyone’s dirty secrets in the paper and Mac, being overall on the offensive for Chandler. Mac escorted her to classes, going so far as threatening to kick the teeth out of one of her fellow cheerleaders for trying to make fun of Heather for being gay.

The bullying grew and evolved into increasingly more physical attacks. Heather just tried to slide back under the radar, she didn’t even want to be popular anymore she just wanted to be left alone. It reached Prom, Mac enthused about the dance attempted to drag Heather along as her date but Chandler refused. She couldn’t go back to another school dance – she wasn’t strong enough. The final straw was when she went to the parking lot one day, attempting to flee school early enough to skip out on her bullies she found her car keyed with the work ‘dyke’ all over it. Heather broke down. It had been the first time since Veronica had died that she had allowed herself to fully cry. She forced herself into the car, sobbing, finally making her way home, not even bothering to turn her car off, making her way up to her bathroom when she cut her wrists to the bone.

Heather had gone dizzy, forcing herself to sit down on the ground, hoping that maybe if there were something good in this world after-all she’d see Veronica again. The next thing she knew, Heather rolled over in her bed to find that it was her first day of senior year again.

“Hey, Heather,” Veronica said for what felt like the fifteenth time in a nervous tone. Heather’s eyes finally snapped back to Veronica’s when she apologized, “Sorry.” Veronica pulled back, studying the girl next to her as she spoke, “We’ll get him – this time he knows I’m coming, but he doesn’t know you’re coming.” Heather furrowed her brow offering a shrug, “What do you mean?” Veronica became excited at her realization, knowing that this was the thing they needed to take JD down. “So he told me he knows that I’ve been doing this repeat stuff, but I don’t think he knows that you are now too. It’s perfect. It’s how we can take him down.”

* * *

Step 1 in Veronica’s master plan was easy. It was to make JD jealous. So, she knew she and Heather had to be as open about their relationship as they could be without downright saying they were dating. They held hands in the halls quite frequently, were a little touchy-feely at lunch when they knew JD sat behind them, and for the biggest leap in their relationship Veronica was having Heather over for a date at her house. Veronica had told her parents that she wanted to bring her girlfriend over to the house – they were shocked that only a day had gone by since they had to deal with her coming out that she also already had a girlfriend. They stopped over at Heather’s house to pack a sleepover bag after discussing that it was funny that they were so used to Heather having clothes over at her house.

Heather looked exhausted by the time they made it to Veronica’s house but she put on a brave face, willing that she and Veronica were going to have a good night. Veronica’s mom opened the door to their house, waving the girls in and exclaiming, “So you must be Veronica’s girlfriend! Nice to meet you!” Heather blushed, ducking her head momentarily before bringing it back up to smile at Mrs. Sawyer, “That’s me, I’m Heather Chandler.” Veronica and Heather walked into the house turning to Veronica’s mom as she spoke, “I’m going to start dinner but I’ll stay out of your hair, okay girls?” Veronica nodded giving her mom a smile and led Heather to sit on the couch. Heather stole a quick kiss as she sat down and spoke, “So, what are we watching?”

Veronica whipped the VHS she had of ‘A Princess Bride’ out and offered a huge smile. “I figured since we watched it on our first date we should watch it again.” Heather grinned lying down onto the couch and stated, “Well aren’t you romantic?” Veronica inserted the tape into the player and laughed on out, “I have to make up for lost time.” She settled herself down into Heather’s arms, sprawling out on top of her, as she turned her head to face the movie. Heather carefully squeezed the girl on top of her before resting her hands on Veronica’s back. “Do you think he’s noticed?” Heather asked pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “He follows me home from school every day in the other timelines, so I’d place my bets on that.” Heather craned her neck to look out the window behind the couch scanning the yards across the street to only run across JD, idly sitting under a tree in a nearby yard. “He’s there.” She stated, forcing a smile to lie across her face, just pretending to look outside and enjoy the neighborhood. She had to fool him in this timeline and she was damn certain she was going to succeed in playing dumb. Veronica groaned, burying her head into her girlfriend’s chest, “Okay, so step one done.”

Step 2 entailed trapping JD exactly where they wanted him. In this case it was going to be at Kurt and Ram’s party. Veronica nervously approached JD on her way to class one day, attempting to be cautious in her step and speech. “So, I was thinking that maybe – I just need to give up – you’re right.” JD looked up from his locker and _grinned_ “Really?” Veronica ran a hand through her hair and shrugged, “I just think you’re right – we really are just meant to be together and – I was with Heather, but I just don’t think she gets it.” JD turned to fully face her and let a devilish grin explode across his face, “I told you we’d be perfect together darling.” Veronica held back the urge to vomit and spoke, “I was hoping…you’d help me show her up at Kurt’s party tonight? Be my date?”

JD essentially lit up and quickly answered, “As long as we don’t have to stay there the whole time – count me in.” Veronica gave him a massive smile and replied, “Great – I’ll see you there – it’s at 8 tonight.” Veronica quickly made her way to French class, writing on a sheet of paper that she had convinced him to go with her to the party. Heather quirked a brow up, writing on the sheet, “how?” Veronica quickly wrote, “Convinced him we broke up – he said yes.” Heather let a little laugh out and scribbled, “Idiot.” Veronica felt a grin grow on her face – game on JD, game _on._

_Dear Diary,_

_Step 1 – check_

_Step 2 – check_

_Step 3 – tonight_


	10. Russian Doll

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica and Heather race against the clock to finally take JD down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: dubious consent  
> tw: rape (??)
> 
> So, this is guys! Thank you for joining me on this crazy journey of this story. If you'd like to leave a comment about something else you'd like to see from me feel free - I don't anticipate stopping writing Heathers anytime soon! Find me at buffysumnners on tumblr!

Veronica went straight to Heather’s house after school that day. They had to plan an arsenal to kick JD’s ass. They sat on Heather’s bed attempting to talk through everything. “So strap a knife to my leg?” Heather asked incredulously. “It’s just to be safe – we take your dad’s gun and if JD gets ahold of it the knife is the contingency plan,” Veronica explained, her heart caught up in her throat. She was incredibly nervous and she knew she didn’t have much time left until she had to go face JD. Heather carefully tied the knife to her thigh, trying to ensure it had no wiggle-room unless she pulled it from its hiding place, and then noted the panic resting on her girlfriend’s face. Heather all-too-carefully pulled Veronica into a kiss and spoke, “You’re going to be okay, we’re going to do it this time.”

Veronica sank into the kiss, wanting something to take her mind off of the suicide-mission she had put them on. “I just want it to work, you know? I’m so sick of dying.” Heather let herself soften, she was sick of watching Veronica die, twice was too much, “We’re going to work it out, Sawyer. You just have to trick him and you’re smart as all hell.” Veronica furrowed her brow as she thought. Trick him. Trick him. Veronica’s face fully lit up as she spoke, “I think I have something else up my sleeve.” Heather raised a brow, still gently cradling the other girl, “What’s the plan?

Veronica carefully stood, incredibly nervous about what was about to unfold and took to pacing back and forth around her girlfriend’s bed. Veronica laced her hands together and answered, “One of the times I saw you die, the first time I saw you die, JD poisoned you.” Veronica’s breath caught in her throat as she continued, “He – you – you wanted me to make you a prairie oyster and he poured Drano in another cup and I – I accidentally gave you that one instead because he tricked me – so I was thinking a whole poetic justice thing would be to make him drink it.” Heather paled at the news of another death she hadn’t been able to account for but nodded in agreement. “If it’s something you haven’t tried it’s worth a shot at this point,” Heather mumbled forcing herself into a standing position.

“We should go,” Heather suggested checking her swatch. “Does he know that I’m still your ride?” Veronica shrugged and tucked the gun in the waistband of her skirt, “If he doesn’t I can make it something up about wanting to keep appearances until the time is right or some bullshit.” Heather straightened her skirt and pulled the knife up slightly higher on her thigh. Veronica took a second to speak, her heart still balled up in her throat, “Hey, Heather? You know I love you, right?” Heather let out a quick laugh and nodded as if she were asking for a better explanation, “I love you too?” The other girl rambled on, “I just feel like I’m never going to see you again – if we die – if I die who knows where we’ll end up. You don’t normally remember – and I just wanted to say it before you forget again.” Heather took Veronica by the shoulders, trying to maintain her steadfast persona and shook her slightly, “Ronnie we’re going to be okay, I promise, but we just have to go if we’re going to do this.”

They drove in silence to the party - Veronica too nervous to speak, Heather trying to maintain her cool. Finally, they arrived and they operated as planned – Heather was now the world’s biggest bitch. “God, Veronica, Hurry up!” Heather barked as they pulled into Kurt’s driveway and stepped out of the car. Veronica rolled her eyes; half fully aware this was all part of the plan but half at how much of a monster her girlfriend used to be, “Sorry, Heather.” They made their entrance into the party and Veronica was unsettled. She knew she couldn’t back out of fighting JD, she knew she had to deal with this, if she didn’t follow through now they would never get rid of him.

Heather shot Veronica one last look before speaking all-too-crisply, “I’m going to find Heather and Heather.” Veronica nodded; killing all the affections she wanted to say to her – all of them dying on her lips and let Heather walk off. She scanned the party, looking for her date for the night. Then she found him, off in the corner staring at her. Veronica forced a smile to pull across her face as she made her way over to him. “Hey!” She greeted JD, pulling him into a hug. It was weird that being next to JD felt comfortable – it was like falling back into an old addiction. She wasn’t going to let him make her relapse, however. JD gave her a smile and replied, “This place is insane – you really want to be here?”

Veronica nodded and quickly spoke, “It’s just a party, it’s not like we have to really talk to anyone – plus it’ll help later.” JD raised a brow and questioned, “Later?” Veronica got a sly smile and forced a laugh and spoke, “Don’t you want to get rid of them still? I – I don’t mean killing anyone but you know, overthrowing the Heathers?” He laughed, wrapping an arm around Veronica and pulling her closer and offered her a shrug, “You want me to be a diet-cokehead?” Veronica rolled her eyes and answered, “Could you pretend? Just for like a month?” He gave her shoulder a squeeze and nodded which made Veronica’s blood run cold.

Wetting her lips she spoke, “Wanna go get drinks?” JD smiled, feeling increasingly more comfortable with Veronica and replied, “Thought you’d never ask.” She laced her arm with his and led him to the kitchen and knelt down in front of the counter, “Lucky for you, I remember where they keep the good stuff.” Veronica emerged, clutching a liquor bottle in each hand, setting them on the counter. JD smirked and spoke, “Now that’s what I’m talking about – want to do shots?” Veronica reached under the counter again; pulling out two shot glasses and handed one over to JD, “Game on.” Veronica only did two shots – she had to be on her A-game with him if this entire thing was going to work out whereas JD did about six. JD only wanting shots meant that their poison-plan wasn’t going to work. So backup plan number two was up.

Wrapping her arms around his shoulders Veronica pulled him in for a kiss, letting a small laugh out as she pulled away, “Do you want to go upstairs?” He was cradling the small of her back, looking her in the eyes, which made Veronica thoroughly uncomfortable. JD was in love with her and Veronica, well, Veronica was not. “Lead the way,” JD said stealing a kiss from her. Veronica pretended to be drunker than she was and let out a laugh and drug him by his hand up the stairs. Heather and Veronica had agreed on a room to take him in – they had planned everything.

Veronica pulled JD on top of her as she sank down onto the bed. This was a necessary evil in order to finally get this all done and over with. Their lips came crashing together, Veronica trying to pretend she was anywhere but where she was – she wanted him to be vulnerable and knew that this foreplay was the only surefire way to make him comfortable. She let out a groan as JD slid a hand under her skirt, her body reacting all too well to him. She was disgusted with herself and let her head fall off to the side as JD began an attack on her neck.

Veronica had to go numb – she had to let her mind wander to somewhere else – a world – another timeline where JD wasn’t about to fuck her. He began to bite at her neck, his memory of the first time they had sex being his basis for what she liked. His memory was spectacular Veronica had noted, as she balled her fists up in the sheets and let out a soft groan. She pulled herself up on her elbows, watching as JD fiddled with the button to his jeans – the closet silently sliding open behind him. Heather was pissed as she stood quietly behind him, reaching for the knife she had so carefully tucked away. This was the plan this was what they had to do.

Veronica allowed herself to be shoved back down onto the bed as he lined himself up with her core and pushed forward. Tears sprang from Veronica’s eyes as he sank closer to her when Heather finally approached from behind and thrust her knife into his throat. A gurgle was heard as he pulled himself backward, clutching at his throat, removing himself from Veronica. Veronica sprang backward, scrambling to cover herself and grab the revolver from her waistband. She held the gun to JD as he thrashed around the room, blood leaking from his neck. She pulled the trigger, but nothing came out. It was unloaded “Fuck you,” He managed out as he attempted to yank the knife with his free hand. Heather rushed him, forcing him to the ground - he finally wrenched the knife free and began to swing at Heather, who held his weaponized wrist back. "Can you just fucking die?" Heather growled, shoving him into the wall. The two struggled, Veronica attempting to load the gun, rookie fucking mistake, Sawyer.

Finally, Veronica cocked the gun and shot. She was forever thankful for the loud music from the party below as JD dropped to the ground. Veronica had shot him square between the eyes – he was dead. He wasn’t going to come back again – not if Veronica had a say in it. She clutched the gun close to her chest and began to weep. Heather quickly ran over to her pulling her in tightly and began peppering kisses on the top of her head, “I’ve got you, Sawyer, he’s gone.” Veronica trembled her entire body shaking – it was over it was finally fucking over!

Step 3 truly began – kill JD and get away with it. Veronica pulled away from Heather clearing her throat several times, attempting to get herself together. “We need to get out of here.” She insisted. “What about him?” Heather asked eyeing the corpse in the corner suspiciously. Heather wouldn’t be sure if he was dead until he was fully buried. Frazzled, Veronica reached for the window and pried it open. "We can dump him out this and - and then bury him in the forest at the edge of the cemetery?" Veronica suggested, trying to come up with a solid plan. Heather quickly grabbed the sheets from the bed and began to wrap JD in them. "We can toss him out in these," She explained indicating for Veronica to grab the other end of their makeshift body bag. They tossed him out of the window and he landed in the side yard. The girls quickly ran out of the house, Heather quickly unlocked her trunk and ran to help Veronica drag JD toward her car. It was a struggle when they finally made it to the forest. Each girl was caked in blood, and they began to dig with their bare hands. It took a grueling amount of time but, they eventually, at dawn, made their way deep enough to throw the corpse into a shallow grave. Covering it was easier than digging it - they patted down the soil, grabbing sticks and leaves to cover their handiwork, hoping that it would be enough to cover their asses for even a moment. A week went by without a word from anyone about the whereabouts of JD, his father assuming her had just finally run away. A police report was filed and eventually, they did do some investigating, but their search yielded no results. They officially called off the search on Halloween, declaring JD a runaway due to his "troubled past". Veronica was relieved, he was dead, he was gone, and no one was going to pin it to her or more importantly, Heather.

  
The rest of the school year went on without a hitch Veronica and Heather attended Homecoming and Prom together, they didn’t dance or kiss, but simply went as each other’s dates. The girls came out to the other two Heathers and were met with incredible support. They celebrated each day that passed following JD’s death. They each turned 18. Which wasn't a small feat for either considering their combined body-count. They celebrated Christmas and Hanukkah together. The Heathers became softer, slightly nicer people due to some prodding from Veronica. School sped on by and Veronica found herself accepted to both Brown and Duke. With a little help, Heather Chandler also found herself on the fast track to Brown – Political Science. The Queen Bitch herself wanted to find a way to channel her aggression into something productive – like law. Maybe, Veronica was going to marry a lawyer after all. The time for graduation grew near, Veronica and the Heathers were shoving themselves into their cap and gowns as they anxiously lined themselves up for their graduation ceremony.

“So, how’s it feel Miss Valedictorian?” Duke asked, a genuine smile crossing her face as she knocked shoulders with Veronica. This earned a laugh from the group as Veronica nervously answered, “Is it bad I don’t want to give the stupid speech?” McNamara rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, “It’s a little late to back out!” Veronica laughed, holding her hands up as a defense, “I know, I know.” Chandler wrapped an arm around her girlfriend and spoke, “You’re going to be fine, Ronnie. Just don’t make an ass out of yourself.” Veronica relaxed into Heather’s grip while speaking, “Oh, gee thanks, Heather.”

Principal Gowan gestured for the students to begin walking and Veronica found herself freezing up. The graduating class’ procession in was met with cheers and a sea of uproarious applause as they sat. “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen – I would like to welcome you in congratulating Westerburg High School’s graduating class of 1990!” Principal Gowan spoke from the podium, a smile of pride glued to his face. The crowd again cheered. “I would like to welcome this year’s Valedictorian – Veronica Sawyer - Veronica if you would please come up here.”

Veronica was anxious, not because she had to speak in front of everyone – that was the easy part. It was the content of her words that made her uneasy, but she found herself walking on almost autopilot, clutching her notecards as she made her way up to the front of the auditorium. Settling in she gave a quick nervous laugh and offered a smile to her classmates and all of their families, “Good afternoon everybody!” Swallowing as hard as she could and rolling her teeth between her lips she continued, “People often tell you high school can be murder – that the cliques, the gossip, the politics, the trying to keep up with Miss Fleming’s pop quizzes can bury you alive,” She paused as her classmates let out a large laugh, “I’m here to tell you that you can make it out the other side alive. You can spend the entirety of your high school career as a nobody, but then you can make good friends.” She took a shaky breath as she willed herself through the next section of her speech, “That getting the most popular girl in school to date you isn’t a daydream,” Chandler’s eyes widened but she found a smug smile overtaking her face as a few of the graduates began to look her way. Veronica continued, shooting a shy smile over to Heather, “That you can almost be swallowed by the whole social scene but still persevere. That’s what we did, our class. We came out on top. We survived.”


End file.
